THE closure of horse fairs due to Covid restrictions has left a glut of unwanted young foals in Limerick at a time when mares are coming back into season to have more foals.
Limerick Animal Welfare (LAW) are struggling to care for big numbers of horses, dogs and cats at their sanctuary and are hoping that the Government will continue to pay them the pandemic wage support scheme to keep their 17 staff in jobs.
Sanctuary director, Marion Fitzgibbon, told the Limerick Post that while the organisation is very grateful for a €76,000 government grant, the money will only go a little way towards meeting their expenses.
As they face into 2022, the animal welfare charity is dealing with a number of Covid-related issues.
The excess of unsold foals is a major problem, as well as trying to re-home animals people bought while they were at home during lockdown, but which no longer suit the owners’ lifestyles after they go back to work.
“We were struggling with that before Christmas. People paid huge money to puppy farmers for puppies to have with them when they were working from home, but the puppy farmers are only interested in how much they can get for each animal,” Ms Fitzgibbon explained.
“Now those puppies have grown into dogs which are far bigger than anyone was led to expect. They also have all kinds of genetic problems which require vet bills.
“Many animals who were used to having someone with them the whole time are now being left alone as owners return to the office and some can become quite destructive.”
The lack of new homes for foals due to the closure of the horse fairs is another issue LAW is coping with, as is the fact that the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to animals has not replaced their inspector in Limerick and the post has now been unfilled for months.
“We will always try to help if an animal is neglected but, in truth, the animal will have to be almost on its last legs, and even then we may have to bring in the Gardaí because we have no power of seizure. The ISPCA inspector is the only one who has that,” she said.
The group is hoping that there will be more funding into 2022 with LAW’s two second-hand shops now about to re-open.
“The pandemic has been very difficult for us on every front, including the effect on our volunteers, many of whom are older and can’t risk coming out to work anymore.
“But the people of Limerick are fantastic – even a small donation helps us to keep the doors open and we hope that the shops, our main source of funding, will be back on track shortly.
“Otherwise, the grant, though we are hugely grateful for it, will only keep us running for a short time,” Ms Fitzgibbon added.
