ABANDONED HORSES are to be discussed at a meeting between county managers and the Department of Agriculture.
Local authorities have primary responsibility for animals found in public places, and the department gives them €2 million annually to deal with the problem.
However, some welfare groups claim local authorities are not doing enough. They say the abandonment of horses has reached unprecedented levels.
A spokeswoman for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the problem was so great that a subsidised scheme to have abandoned horses put down should be considered.
She said it cost at least €250 for an unregistered horse to be put down and its body subsequently rendered. This, she added, would appear to be part of the problem for owners unable to cope.
She said an increasing amount of the society inspectorate’s time was being spent on equine matters. Moreover, an urgent necessity existed for regulations on identification of horses to be implemented.
Sharon Newsome of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust said the trust had dealt with calls for aid for horses from Counties Kerry, Carlow, Cork, Donegal, Cavan and Waterford in recent weeks.
“We are doing our best, but the local authorities should be doing more. There is not enough co-ordination of this problem, which is growing every day,” she said.
Orla Aungier of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it had collected five dead horses from the Fonthill, Dublin area in recent weeks.
She said it was estimated there were 470 unidentified horses on open ground in the Fonthill and Dunsink areas of Dublin, and their inspectors could only get to them with Garda protection.
“The problem is not alone getting worse but it is widespread across the country, according to the reports we are receiving,” she said.
A spokesperson for Coillte, the forestry service, confirmed there had been an increase in the number of horses being driven on to their forests. However, the numbers involved tended to be low.
Liz O’Flynn, of Veterinary Ireland’s Animal Welfare Committee, said there was a problem of too many low-value horses in the country.
“However, I am not hearing any evidence there is the epidemic of abandoned horses as has been suggested in some reports I have read,” she said.
“We have to accept there is a problem – not only from the economic point of view, from the weather and lack of fodder – but I could not say it is widespread,” she said.
The department said an early alert system to prevent cruelty – which was in place involving farmers, the Irish Farmers’ Association, the district veterinary offices and local authorities – meant there was a co-ordinated approach to the difficulties of neglect and abandoned animals.