Eating fence posts because they were so hungry..

EGAR

A Co Sligo farmer is facing a prison sentence after pleading guilty to cruelty to donkeys and a horse.


Donkeys - Forced to eat fence posts because of hunger

A Co Sligo farmer is facing a prison sentence after pleading guilty to cruelty to donkeys and a horse.
Sligo District Court heard that the animals were so hungry they ate the fence posts in the field.
Judge Kevin Kilraine said James Curley, of Cooga in Easkey, had no remorse and he would only come to his senses with time in custody to reflect and so he said it was with regret that he remanded him in custody for sentencing on Thursday.
Mr Curley had pleaded guilty to three counts of cruelty and one count of failing to dispose of a donkey's carcass in February of last year.
Mr Curley said the animals were being fed hay and meal by his son and they were fine but Judge Kilraine said he was blatantly lying and the animals were 'utterly and absolutely starving.'
Sligo County Council Veterinary Officer, Conal Colleary told Sligo District Court that when he visited the farm being rented by Mr Curley he found a dead donkey at the gate and a number of other animals in a very poor condition.
A brown gelding was emaciated and its bones were sticking out. He said a six-month-old donkey foal was in the worst condition and was too far gone to be saved.
The foal was hypothermic and emaciated and had to be put down.
A female donkey had a very bad fungal skin infection and was emaciated.
The feet of all of the animals were in very bad condition.
Mr Colleary said there was no water in the field and no evidence of supplementary food.
The grass had been eaten back to nothing and the animals had eaten the bark off the hedging and chewed back the fence posts, they were so hungry.
Mr Curley told the court that he had not been well due to an accident in 2007 and his son was feeding the animals.
But Judge Kilraine said the animals were not getting hay or meal in February 2010, all they were getting was snow, frost and bark.
He said Mr Curley had no regard for the animals and no-one was visiting the land.
He said he was concerned that Mr Curley still had livestock and horses.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0321/donkeys.html

Whispered

I don't want to click th link in case of pics, but do you have any idea what type of sentence he might get?

Is it common for cruelty cases to get to court?

Daisy!

Whispered wrote: »

I don't want to click th link in case of pics, but do you have any idea what type of sentence he might get?

Is it common for cruelty cases to get to court?

+1. I can't look at cruelty photos, it upsets me too much. I'm sure there's a lot of stories like this around the country though sadly, especially lately I hope he gets a strict sentence but I doubt it

liah

There's no pics in the article except one of two well-fed donkeys (presumably for reference purposes?) that don't appear to be the ones spoken about in the article.

starryeye

Frightening and disturbing. Unfortunately I saw the report on the news and what those poor creatures suffered brought lots of tears to my eyes.
Animal A&E on TV3 have shown horses neglected in fields with over grown hooves. I think one story was on last week. It is a dreadful reality in Ireland. I think the fantastic work done by the Animal Welfare people and Donkey Sanctuaries and animal shelters should be highlighted constantly on our television screens. We need these wonderful people and we need to protect our beautiful animals. They are helpless and totally vulnerable. They have feelings and can't protect themselves. These shocking cruelty cases just makes my stomach churn in revulsion at how some people can do such horrible things to their animals.

starryeye

Support Animal Welfare Societies. Please give as generously as you can.
These wonderful people protect neglected, unloved, and rejected pets and animals. They do tremendous work. Well done to all who work so hard in this area.

starryeye

Animals are totally dependent on the good will of people. They are like children in that they are completely helpless and defenceless. They deserve respect, love, care, kindness, warm comfortable shelters, food, clean water, companionship, vet care. If one thinks of the years when the donkey was a patient, obedient servant, gentle and hardworking. An essential and vital creature to carry out hard work and carry heavy loads. They are such beautiful creatures. It is heartbreaking that in 2011 such cruelty still exists. It is an absolute disgrace.

Cherry Blossom

It's about time somebody was jailed for equine neglect, hopefully a lot more will follow in his footsteps

magentas

saw this on rte news tonight, it showed an image of the dead donkey laying beside the half-eaten post and two starved horses and a six month old foal whose condition was so bad that the poor animal had to be put down:(

the sick b@stard denied that they were neglected, he said he was ill and couldn't attend them but his son gave them hay and "they were grand"
he was even half-smiling and felt no remorse:mad:

s-cogan

can i just point out that just chewing fence posts does not automatically imply cruel or negligent hunger levels. horses chew timber quite often, its a vice known as crib-biting. only posting this as the uncle was wrongly reported for cruelty, and its not a nice feeling to be told that your not looking after your animals properly.

magentas

s-cogan wrote: »

can i just point out that just chewing fence posts does not automatically imply cruel or negligent hunger levels. horses chew timber quite often, its a vice known as crib-biting. only posting this as the uncle was wrongly reported for cruelty, and its not a nice feeling to be told that your not looking after your animals properly.

did you see the post? it's not like it was scratched...more than half of this big timber post had been eaten as the animals had NO FOOD!
in this case, it absolutely was due to neglect

iheartthailand

s-cogan wrote: »

only posting this as the uncle was wrongly reported for cruelty, and its not a nice feeling to be told that your not looking after your animals properly.

Did you watch the video? :eek: One poor donkey had STARVED TO DEATH while the others werent far from it themselves. another two (from what I could tell) were in such bad condition they had to be put down.

starryeye

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

It's about time somebody was jailed for equine neglect, hopefully a lot more will follow in his footsteps

I agree with you 100%. Well said.

starryeye

s-cogan wrote: »

can i just point out that just chewing fence posts does not automatically imply cruel or negligent hunger levels. horses chew timber quite often, its a vice known as crib-biting. only posting this as the uncle was wrongly reported for cruelty, and its not a nice feeling to be told that your not looking after your animals properly.

The animals in the Co. Sligo cruelty case ate the fence posts due to the fact that they were starving to death. That is the shocking reality of this individual case.

starryeye

There was concern also expressed about the other livestock owned by this man. I hope he is never allowed to own animals again and is banned for life from owning them. The fact he shows no remorse is disgusting. I hope that he does show some bit of remorse for the animals while in custody as was wished by the judge. I care about this issue very much and I love my pets and care for them and do my very best to ensure that they are loved, well cared for and treated with respect. I know that there are many who have posted on this issue apart from my frequent posts on this board tonight. It is wonderful to see the decent, kind and caring animal lovers voicing their concerns on this matter here. I just want to say thank you for giving me some comfort tonight. I was afraid of the nightmares I would be having if it was not for the kindness you have shown on this board. How could this farmer be so cruel and people like him????????? It is terrible.

Smeefa

Absolutely disgusting. And yer man clearly feels no shame for what he did...

Galway K9

well if ye followed it... he was found guilty. finally!:)

starryeye

Galway K9 wrote: »

well if ye followed it... he was found guilty. finally!:)

About time. Shame on him.

starryeye

Some people should not be allowed to own animals.

Groom!

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."
-- Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, 1877


Thank God he was found guilty.

teacherspet

The judge found him guilty and gave him 3 days in prision to reflect on his actions. Should have been 3 years.

KERSPLAT!

teacherspet wrote: »

The judge found him guilty and gave him 3 days in prision to reflect on his actions. Should have been 3 years.

Is it not he is being remanded till Thurdays until sentancing? This may be the only time he spends inside but I dont think its known yet, what exactly will happen.

sensibleken

absolute fúcking scumbag deserves the last few of his teeth knocked from his head!

Unfortunetely this will most likely just be a fine rather than a custodial sentence or a ban on keeping animals.

s-cogan

dont get me wrong, i understand that the animals in this and many other cases were treated with shocking cruelty and neglect, i just want to implore people to find out full facts before reporting people for cruelty.

Galway K9

s-cogan wrote: »

dont get me wrong, i understand that the animals in this and many other cases were treated with shocking cruelty and neglect, i just want to implore people to find out full facts before reporting people for cruelty.

Theres a lot of "Do-gooders" out there with no livs of their own.:D

starryeye

I was only talking about the Co. Sligo cruelty case.

Leonidas BL

It just so happenes I grew up right beside this fine fellow :eek:

Leonidas BL

Another animal (a goat) found dead there today. It gave birth before it died. The young goat was wandering around the field...

Zapperzy

Leonidas BL wrote: »

Another animal (a goat) found dead there today. It gave birth before it died. The young goat was wandering around the field...

Have you reported this to the CoCo or the ispca yet?

Shegull

Leonidas BL wrote: »

Another animal (a goat) found dead there today. It gave birth before it died. The young goat was wandering around the field...

It would seem that he hasn't yet learned his lesson. He should be locked up for at least six months. There again that aint gonna happen in this Country. Why were the rest of his animals not confiscated

joyce2009

Leonidas BL wrote: »

Another animal (a goat) found dead there today. It gave birth before it died. The young goat was wandering around the field...

PLEASE say you've reported this that kid wont last without its mother....:(

Leonidas BL

I think the goat was tied up in a neighbours field so theres no proof that it belongs to him. But yes, it was reported to the guards before I even heard about it.......

An Riabhach

starryeye wrote: »

Support Animal Welfare Societies. Please give as generously as you can.
These wonderful people protect neglected, unloved, and rejected pets and animals. They do tremendous work. Well done to all who work so hard in this area.

I've started the year by adopting 2 donkeys-one at the Mallow Sanctuary and one at the Donegal sanctuary,I've donated to Hollys Horse Haven in Louth,and hope to sponsor a horse at IHWT in Wicklow.

Cruelty to donkeys,horses,mules and all equines in general seems to be becoming a lot more common.At the start of this month,a donkey stallion was found starved,and apparently trampled on by the nearby cattle,in a slurry pit,unconcious but still alive,in Co.Donegal.The sanctuary took him in,but he died a few hours later.A petition and an ongoing appeal is being made to the dept. of agriculture-just in the hope that they will do something about it.

This sort of neglect and cruelty is still going on everywhere-with all types of animals.

Discodog

Whispered wrote: »

Is it common for cruelty cases to get to court?

In a word, no. The ISPCA & local SPCA's are so short of resources & it can be very difficult to get the veterinary evidence that is essential for a successful prosecution.

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

It's about time somebody was jailed for equine neglect, hopefully a lot more will follow in his footsteps

You are far more likely to be prosecuted for cruelty to livestock/equines than to companion animals because the County Vet becomes involved.

As with the Dog Breeding Bill the Control of Horses Act is under the remit of Local Authorities who do nothing. This legislation should be under central control & needs to be mandatory.

Livestock are more protected than companion pets because we eat them & therefore they are more closely regulated.

The owner of the notorious Spindles Farm in the UK was sentenced to six months imprisonment, fined £400,000 and banned from keeping horses for life, the maximum penalty available to the court for the nine cases of causing unnecessary suffering to animals and two charges of failing to protect animals from pain, injury, suffering and disease.