Dear Editor,

When a horse is abandoned, why is the rescue centre forced to pay the price twice?

An ex-racehorse was recently found dumped in a forest.

He was starving. His ribs and hip bones protruded through his skin. He had lost an eye. A bone was protruding from his jaw. He had been discarded like rubbish and left to suffer.

A well-known Irish rescue centre steps in and saves him.

That rescue centre now faces veterinary bills, rehabilitation costs, feed costs and months of care. Yet, despite doing everything possible to save this horse, it is also expected to pay for a duplicate passport because the original is missing.

Think about that for a moment.

The rescue centre did not abandon the horse. The rescue centre did not lose the passport. The rescue centre did not cause his suffering. Yet the rescue centre gets another bill. Meanwhile, the person responsible walks away.

What makes this even harder to understand is that we are constantly told, quite rightly, about the importance of equine passports and traceability. Recent investigations into criminal horse trafficking networks across Europe have highlighted how forged passports and manipulated microchips can be used to conceal horses’ true identities and histories.

If traceability is so important, and clearly it is, then why are the very organisations trying to restore that traceability being forced to pay for it?

Why is there no exemption, reduced fee or financial support for registered rescues dealing with abandoned and neglected horses?

These charities survive on donations. Every euro spent replacing missing paperwork is a euro that cannot be spent on veterinary treatment, feed, rehabilitation or saving another horse from suffering.

The horse pays the price for abandonment. Then the rescue centre pays the price for rescuing him. That is not justice. That is a system that places the burden of cruelty on those compassionate enough to step in and help.

The question is simple: Why are the rescuers paying for the failures of the people who abandoned the horse?

If we expect rescue centres to pick up the pieces after acts of neglect and abandonment, we should not be sending them another bill for doing so.

Yours sincerely,

Éibhlin Ní Mhaoláin, Co Dublin