IN the Irish Horse World section of the first issue of The Irish Field in 2018, editor Isabel Hurley reported on the latest figures regarding the number of horses and ponies seized in the State during the previous 12 months.

Of the 1,177 animals taken in by local Councils, less than 10% of them (94) were reclaimed while 176 were rehomed. This meant that 903 horses or ponies were put down at a rate of almost three a day. Hurley wrote: “The cost to local authorities and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine of dealing with unwanted horses and ponies seized under the Control of Horses Act 1996 stands at €4.5 from 2014-2017.

Animal welfare is of huge concern to Hurley who gave a lot of space in the Irish Horse World during the year to the issue of horses and Ireland’s food chain system; the Donkey Sanctuary in Liscarroll; the rescue of 16 donkeys in Co Mayo; the effect of the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme on the increase in the number of donkeys in these areas.

Also covered were the finding of the bodies and bones of eight more starved horses/ponies on the outskirts of Limerick; reports from the ISPCA; Action For Animal Welfare’s March For Animals in Clonmel; the grim reading contained in the ISPCA’s annual report for 2017, the report on the ISPCA’s rescue of 100 dogs in three days; the lobbying of Dáil Deputies and Senators by animal welfare groups; the huge numbers who protested at Leinster House on World Animal Day; the conviction of a man found with almost 40 chained and neglected dogs.

While some might think that these instances have nothing to do with those whose performances are written about in these pages, to the outside world the differences are not so distinct. We are all obliged to watch for welfare issues and to do something about them if only reporting them to local welfare groups.