Charities say there is a need for improved education about animal welfare issues

There is a need for improved education about animal welfare issues and greater deterrents and punishments for those who cause them harm, charities have said.

Organisations working with mistreated animals say they have never been as busy as during the Covid-19 pandemic, a time when many people have experienced their own hardships.

Donkey Sanctuary Ireland currently has some 1,800 donkeys in its care and recently appealed for help in addressing a “deepening donkey welfare crisis”.

Sanctuary manager Laura Foster said it was important to make a connection between human and animal welfare.

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“Over the last 18 months human welfare has suffered and we have never been as busy,” she said. “We see huge problems in some hot spots like along the west coast, which is connected to the welfare of people looking after the animals and we need to work with communities in terms of education and awareness.

“Some people just don’t know that a donkey’s coat is not waterproof and that donkeys need shelter, especially at this time of year.”

While the reasons for animal neglect or abuse were often complex, Ms Foster said there also needed to be deterrents such as more prosecutions of those who cause suffering to animals.

Today is Ireland’s first National Animal Welfare Awareness Day, and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has announced a €500,000 increase in funding to almost 100 animal charities to €3.7 million. He has also urged people to think about animal welfare in the run-up to Christmas.

The Minister is to visit the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) today and Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park, which is providing a home to a number of donkeys. These animals were previously in the care of Donkey Sanctuary Ireland, which is receiving a funding allocation of €230,000.

A further €95,000 is being provided to Hungry Horse Outside. Jacinta Darmon, a director of the charity, recently said it was “drowning in a tidal wave of abandoned, starving, abused, and traumatised donkeys” .

Opportunity

DSPCA spokeswoman Gillian Bird said the awareness day was an opportunity for it to raise a number of urgent issues such as ear cropping, which is becoming increasingly widespread in dog breeds such as bull terriers.

“It is being done for cosmetic reasons and it is sometimes done with a Stanley knife without an anaesthetic in someone’s home,” she said.

Ms Bird said the DSPCA, which is receiving a funding allocation of €615,000, was urging people who were thinking of getting a puppy this Christmas to consider the option of fostering a dog for a few weeks first, which would show if they had the time and resources to keep a pet.

She said delays in the court system meant that seized animals were being left for up to two years under the care of the DSPCA, making it difficult to find them new homes.

Mr McConalogue said most Irish people had a deep love of animals but that “a small minority” treated them poorly, and he hoped to raise awareness of good animal welfare practices and the great work charities working in the area do.