Brian Hennessy

LOCAL authorities are being used as “an expensive disposal service” for large numbers of abandoned horses, a Dail committee heard this week.

Representatives of city and county management across Ireland were one of a number of groups who this week made presentations to the joint committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the subject of horse welfare.

Startling figures were revealed which showed that the number of horses seized and disposed of by local authorities continues to rise, with the figure for 2014 standing at 4,923, a jump of almost 2,000 since 2011.

The committee heard that “large scale abandonment” continues to be a problem in rural areas, with very little analysis or research carried out on the fundamental reasons for these alarming figures.

It was also suggested that local authorities are being used as “an expensive disposal service”, with the overall cost of seizing and disposing of each horse varying between €500 and €1,100 per animal.

While the Department of Agriculture currently grants a maximum subvention of €375 per equine, this leaves a substantial deficit to be made up by the local authority.

Depending on the number of horses seized annually, some €2-€3 million of taxpayers’ money is provided by the Department of Agriculture as an annual subvention to deal with horse welfare issues, with individual local authorities covering the balance needed. In the first quarter of 2015 alone 878 equines were seized in Ireland and it was stated that the problem is likely to be even greater, as many local authorities are now only impounding horses and ponies if there is a clear danger to the public.

It was suggested that any signs of market recovery in the sector were mainly at upper and middle ends.

City and County managers also said that there appears to be “no sign of the problem abating at local level,” despite all the effort and expenditure incurred, while it was also stated “that current Control of Horses Act, is not fully fit for purpose”.

Most local authorities use contractors for the purposes of seizing horses and providing pound facilities. A national tender is currently being formulated although there are a limited number of contractors entering the market. This relates to a number of factors including, in particular, the skills required to deal with fractious horses, potentially volatile owners as well as the requirement to provide secure pounds for the mandatory holding periods.

Full traceability

It was mentioned that a move to full traceability of all horses through effective enforcement would help to improve the situation, ensuring all owners to be fully accountable.

Representatives from the ISPCA also made submissions to the joint committee and while they welcomed recent changes to legislation relating to registration of equine premises, microchipping, passporting and transfer of ownership regulations, the organisation is very concerned that a lack of enforcement by Department officials has resulted in “widespread non-compliance”. The ISPCA said they deal with over 1,700 equine related calls each year and between 2008 and 2014 seized 401 horses. Most of the seized equines are low value horses, ponies and donkeys, but around 10% are thoroughbred.