Animal welfare groups from both sides of the border have today launched a helpine so that anyone in the whole of Ireland can ring one number and report animal cruelty.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA), the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) and the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) launched the helpline which allows members of the public and authorities like the Garda and the PSNI to contact the ISPCA/USPCA national control centre which will pass on relevant calls to a network of animal welfare inspectors, which now covers the entire country, North and South.
Director of operations for the ISPCA, Mr Alastair Keen, said: "This is not only a massive step forward for animal welfare but the largest cross-border initiative in recent years".
The helpline has had initial successes already including a raid on an organised dog fight in County Kildare, the seizure of a cruelly negelected horse in Co Mayo and the rescue of a dog from a sealed rubbish skip in Kilkenny.
The helpline numbers are: Republic of Ireland 048 9081 4242
Northern Ireland 028 9081 4242