18,000 "useless" horses in Ireland

Think how many useless dogs there are!
i mean mine won't even herd sheep, ridiculous.
At least double that figure i should think

next media frenzy - "Useless dogs, ireland's full of them"
 
its not flippant!Its a seroius article there are 18,000 horses with no monetry value and the farmers and breeders dont want then and many are in danger of being dumped and starving to death. the rescue agencies cant cope. its a very intersting article giving a lot of food for thought.
 
Until the costs to PTS and to geld are bought right down or even offered free as a one off incentive drive in the UK and Ireland things will continue to get worse I think :(
 
AlecI agree wholeheartedly. WelshD, I agree also such a problem, but as one Irish MP said, why should tax payers money be spent in PTS [or gelding for that ,matter]. These animals need to find a monetry value and getting them in to the food chain is one way of doing it.
 
Horsesforever1 said:
AlecI agree wholeheartedly. WelshD, I agree also such a problem, but as one Irish MP said, why should tax payers money be spent in PTS [or gelding for that ,matter]. These animals need to find a monetry value and getting them in to the food chain is one way of doing it.
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18000 horses different ages incomplete histories from god know where medicated with god knows what I really don't think the food chain is the answer .
 
Horses ARE essentially being culled here (in Ireland). 80 % of horses siezed by the county councils have been PTS. For the owners to reclaim the horses they must produce a passport (most of which don't have) and have a registered equine premises number for where they horses will be kept. Then of course there is also a release fee. I dont have the exact figure but last week there was an article in the paper stating that about 2700 horses were PTS by county councils in the past year. This was not due to health issues, simply unregistered horses remaining unclaimed after 5 days in the pound.

A cull on its own will not solve the problem. A compulsory castration policy and stallion licensing needs to be implemented to prevent this issue continuing into the future. Many responsible breeders have stopped breeding their quality animals due the recession, whilst irresponsible owners continue to breed poor quality animals. We need to stop the poor quality animals from being bred.
 
MiniBlitzen said:
Horses ARE essentially being culled here (in Ireland). 80 % of horses siezed by the county councils have been PTS. For the owners to reclaim the horses they must produce a passport (most of which don't have) and have a registered equine premises number for where they horses will be kept. Then of course there is also a release fee. I dont have the exact figure but last week there was an article in the paper stating that about 2700 horses were PTS by county councils in the past year. This was not due to health issues, simply unregistered horses remaining unclaimed after 5 days in the pound.

A cull on its own will not solve the problem. A compulsory castration policy and stallion licensing needs to be implemented to prevent this issue continuing into the future. Many responsible breeders have stopped breeding their quality animals due the recession, whilst irresponsible owners continue to breed poor quality animals. We need to stop the poor quality animals from being bred.
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glad some course of action has been taken but yes stopping the breeding first is the key
 
And how many more in Scotland /England and especially Wales to add to that? And you still get 'rescue societys' saving them from the 'meat man' and knackers yards.
 
stormox said:
And how many more in Scotland /England and especially Wales to add to that? And you still get 'rescue societys' saving them from the 'meat man' and knackers yards.
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when to be honest might be the best place for them as societies are becoming full. IMHO I think people rely too much on rescue centres to pick up the pieces
 
18,000 is a drop in the ocean..... my money is on there being far, far more..... We should be eating them.

When there is a value in them the welfare issues will largely disappear .

They have no value because there is no horsemeat trade.......simples.com
 
I think there are far more. . . My uncle has a farm in Ireland, he has two ponies already for his kids and in the past year he has had 21 horses dumped on his land. 6 were dead :'(
 
Spook said:
18,000 is a drop in the ocean..... my money is on there being far, far more..... We should be eating them.

When there is a value in them the welfare issues will largely disappear .

They have no value because there is no horsemeat trade.......simples.com
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Common sense is gathering momentum. Well said.

Alec.
 
Maria13 said:
I think there are far more. . . My uncle has a farm in Ireland, he has two ponies already for his kids and in the past year he has had 21 horses dumped on his land. 6 were dead :'(
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Sorry but with thousands horses being neglected left to starve drown get run into and be dumped dead, in all parts of the British Isles it is time action was taken to end the suffering of these Poor worthless creatures their should be cull and proper enforced passports and Stallion licences re-introduced to cover ALL People including all parts of the traveling and Romany communities with heavy fines/imprisonment/ seizing possessions and life time bans introduced for people who refuse to comply. All the horse welfare charities are stuffed full with horses treading mud, most of which would be better and kinder for them to be PTS.
 
Hairy Old Cob said:
...... and Stallion licences re-introduced to cover ALL People including all parts of the traveling and Romany communities ........
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What, and interfere with their engrained heritage, customs and traditions? Didn't you realise that they have rights which are denied to the rest of us? Come along now, try and keep up!!

Alec.
 
Alec Swan said:
Common sense is gathering momentum. Well said.

Alec.
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I wish it was, but it will take a lot more deaths for a cull to happen. Charities need to push this as the only option for low value animals. Even now, I have received a "begging letter" from Redwings which doesn't even touch on the subject. It's just SAVE, SAVE, SAVE. It is unsustainable and will get worse.

Unfortunately, the market has dictated that the quality breeders leave mares empty whilst low value horses are allowed to continue to breed just making the problem worse.

There is a desperate need to find a market for the low value animals, including young animals bred on the moors which have no breeding value, although the herd is an essential part of the infrastructure.

The best option must be a market for them and, since the leisure/riding market is very limited, it must be for meat.

There are probably quite a number of people who would welcome good meat knowing where it came from.
 
Alec Swan said:
What, and interfere with their engrained heritage, customs and traditions? Didn't you realise that they have rights which are denied to the rest of us? Come along now, try and keep up!!

Alec.
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Agree and plus they get away with so much already they will with this too and they are the biggest culprits to the over-breeding and dumping
 
By bringing in rules and regs do you really think the ferals who are mistreating their animals will really clean up their acts? All you do is punish the law abiding citizens. Maybe give authorities more control and get animals removed and rehomed / PTS sooner rather than later.
 
Hairy Old Cob - when did they have stallion licences? Theres always been plenty of unregistered stallions around- Ive never heard of people not being allowed to keep a stallion, or HAVING to use a liscensed stallion, and Ive been in horses a very long time!
 
I agree the human food chain is not the answer, certainly not as a short term solution to the current crisis. But unappealing as it sounds, could low quality animals be culled, rendered and used as fertilizer? I feel heartless typing it thinking of my much loved fatties but may be a suitable use?
 
The simple answer to the animal which has no identifying chip is that it becomes public property, I'd have thought, and that would apply to all those animals which are being fly grazed on land where they have no right to be.

Public Property? They can then be sold for slaughter, and the meagre funds can go in to the public coffers. Job Done.

Alec.
 
MrsD123 said:
We have had this debate before: the starving and the neglected are not suitable for inclusion in the human food chain.
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If there was an open and transparent market for horsemeat with properly regulated slaughterhouses, there would be virtually no starving nor neglected horses for the charities to deal with due to the animals having a goodish value..... do remember there is a world shortage of meat.

But will the charities want to loose their colossal income in the name of welfare?????? I doubt it, they have vast numbers of salaried people raising money to keep them in work!!!!!! It's a VICIOUS circle being perpetuated for financial gain.
 
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