They are the four-legged victims of Ireland’s recession whose plight animal welfare organizations say can only be solved now by a mass national cull.
Bought as trophy pets during the Celtic Tiger boom years, homeless horses now run wild in their thousands across the Republic of Ireland, most abandoned by owners who have no money for their upkeep.
Ireland has the highest horse population per capita in Europe. Although there are no official figures, animal charities estimate that up to 20,000 horses could be ownerless and fending for themselves.
And with the prospect of a harsh winter and no let up in the economic gloom, the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) now says the only solution to the problem is to cull those animals left to forage for themselves.
In Ballymun — close to Ireland’s main airport in north Dublin — Lisa Kemp, a DSPCA welfare officer, comes across a thin horse tied to a wall outside a block of flats. The animal has circular lesions on it and Kemp suspects that it has ringworm. A small crowd of children are trying to tend to the horse by putting sugar and vinegar on its body.
Kemp said last winter 14 horses starved to death in Clondalkin on the other side of the city. She predicts that figure will be far higher throughout the Republic this year.
“The owners of horses with injuries are just leaving them out to die because it costs too much to get a vet to fix the animal. DSPCA used to get little in the way of horse calls and now it’s the most common of the calls they get,” she said.
In 2008 the DSPCA took 26 horses into care; last year, 106, and they have already handled 105 so far this year.
Orla Aungier, the DSPCA operations manager, says it has had to put down half of the horses taken into its shelter so far this year. Aungier says that at the height of the boom a non-thoroughbred horse bought as a pet could cost up to 4,000 euros (US$5,600); today that price can be as low as 50 euros. Three-quarter thoroughbred horses are also at risk and the DSPCA this year even had to deal with two cases of abandoned fully thoroughbred horses their owners no longer can afford.
“It’s all down to the recession because the first thing to go in a family budget are luxury items and, sadly, horses were luxury pets when the good times were rolling ... they face a winter of starvation and in those circumstances sadly the only humane solution is to put those animals down. It is better that they are culled than left to starve to death, which is shameful given Ireland’s reputation for breeding and loving horses,” Aungier said.
Dessie Ellis, a Dublin city councilor said: “The only long-term solution to this problem is to have a proper passport and chipping system for horses. There are plenty of responsible horse owners in places like Finglas where I represent, but there are irresponsible owners too who just abandon the horses once they can’t afford them any more.”
If nothing was done, he said, the plight of Ireland’s homeless horses would get worse once winter bites.
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