Nobody, claims southside resident
JUST who is taking responsibility for animal cruelty and neglect?
An immediate answer is demanded from a southside woman who came to the aid of a stricken horse, and whose pleas for help to relevant organisations went ignored.
It is shocking, she told the Limerick Post, that Limerick is without a full-time animal inspector.
“There is nobody to turn to. In my case Gardai, County Council and CIE were unable to assist.
A horse was trapped on railway tracks, off the Ballykeeffe Boreen.
Barbed wire restricted the distressed animal’s return to the nearby field.
Said the woman: “I contacted the LSPCA and was told that there was no inspector and that there was nothing that they could do as the horse was on private land.
“I then got on to Animal Welfare and they contacted the county council, who claimed it was nothing to do with them.
“I was told CIE would have to give permission to remove the horse. The gardaí said they couldn’t do anything.
“I went down to the horse every day with hay and water and my heart was breaking for it. It was freezing, and the horse was scared and couldn’t get back into the field”.
Thankfully, she added, the horse returned to the field after nearly a week.
All animals, she emphasised, were now at risk, given the cold spell.
The absence of a full time animal inspector, she says, has to be addressed.
Meanwhile, another person complained about the plight of several horses near Groody.
Marion Fitzgibbon, Limerick Animal Welfare, explained that the laws regarding wandering horses were long outdated.
“There is no sensible law. The existing one, which makes it illegal for us to go onto private land to retrieve a horse, is in existence since 1911”.
“In the case referred to, the County Council told the horse pound not to take it as they would have to pay.
“If CIE were to call the horse pound, they would have had to pay them.
“We would have brought him to the sanctuary in Kilfinane, though we are already full to capacity there, and the horse shelter in Mountshannon has 85”.
She explained that LAW could only intervene if the animal was in extremely bad condition.
Inspector co-ordinator of the LSPCA, Geraldine Nardone, said that there was no funding for a full- time inspector.
“There is an inspector working two days a week.
“We try to build up enough calls for her to work those days. It is not an emergency service and she is not on-call”.
Ms. Nardone said that to contact the inspector concerned, individuals would need to call the office or leave a message outside office hours.
“The gardaí are the only ones who can deal with an emergency, and we have no power to seize animals”.
