Should I contact the ISPCA!

tinyfox

I was driving yesterday and a man in a horse and trap pulled up along side me while stuck in traffic. I happened to look at the back legs of the horse as he was pulling away and he had sores on parts of his legs that were red raw and looked to be bleeding. I noticed it was from the ropes connecting the trap to him that were rubbing on his legs causing the sores but to be honest the skin was broken bad enough that it looked like it wasn't just from a few hours of rubbing and was bleeding.

I have grown up near enough to the countryside and have seen horse and traps for years but never anything like this. Any horses I have seen looked to be kept in fantastic condition and I got such a fright when I saw this poor guys legs I spent most of the day crying. I tried ringing the ISPCA but the phone lines are only open during office hours Mon-Fri so I was going to ring tomorrow but I just wanted to be sure I wasn't over-reacting first, now that I've calmed down!

pokertalk

sounds pretty bad. do you know this person /did you follow them to see where they live? spca will need an address to go on

ppink

Yes report them. do you know where he is from?

tinyfox

After I overtook him I had to pull in to calm down before I could drive again and he passed me. I saw him go up a hill and as far as I know there's a halting site up there. I know there's only one way to go out from that hill so I'm guessing he went up there.

I couldn't drive for about 10 minutes after wards so I couldn't follow him but I might take a drive up later and see if I can see anything. The thing was, the horse was smaller than a regular horse but bigger than a pony and he was white/grey in colouring so he should be relatively easy to spot. Stupid phone camera is crap so I tried to take a pic but it's too fuzzy to see anything. I feel so bad for him

Tranceypoo

Please report it, I don't think you are over-reacting at all it sounds very distressing to see, imagine how the poor horse feels!!

Discodog

If everyone like you reported cruelty & the ISPCA worked 7 days like every other emergency service, we would have far less cruelty.

You came here to ask whether to report it but you already know what to do. It is very unlikely that anyone else will help that horse so please make the call & follow it up.

Well done for caring.

tinyfox

Discodog wrote: »

If everyone like you reported cruelty & the ISPCA worked 7 days like every other emergency service, we would have far less cruelty.

You came here to ask whether to report it but you already know what to do. It is very unlikely that anyone else will help that horse so please make the call & follow it up.

Well done for caring.

You're right, I do know what to do. Thanks to everyone for making me feel like this is right decision. Will post a follow up when I ring them tomorrow

tinyfox

Just off the phone with the ISPCA and he said that if the animal was under the care of a vet they can't do anything! Not sure why he said that Either way he said if there is someone near there today he would send them up to have a look.

Mongarra

Well done for reporting it. You can do no more. Only hope the ISPCA will follow it up.

**Vai**

tinyfox wrote: »

Just off the phone with the ISPCA and he said that if the animal was under the care of a vet they can't do anything! Not sure why he said that Either way he said if there is someone near there today he would send them up to have a look.

They are terrified of the travellers, thats why he said that. <snip>

Well done for reporting it. As always, if you think it warrants reporting, then do it. Hope it works out.

Tranceypoo

**Vai** wrote: »

They are terrified of the travellers, thats why he said that. <snip>

Well done for reporting it. As always, if you think it warrants reporting, then do it. Hope it works out.

Have to agree, in my experience, if you mention the animal belongs to a member of the travelling community they seem very reluctant to get involved. Why would he say 'if it's under the care of a vet'?? They wouldn't know that without going out and asking for goodness sakes!! Very frustrating to say the least!!

Discodog

I guess that he was suggesting the, very unlikely, scenario that the owner was treating the injury - even though the animal was in harness :rolleyes:. People will stop reporting cruelty if they feel that their complaint is not being taken seriously.

Surely if a member of a particular community is abusing a horse then the best thing to do is prosecute & send out the message that the law of Ireland applies to all of it's citizens.

ppink

I think that is a fairly standard thing to say that if the animal is already being treated then ISPCA will not be seizing him but probably monitor the situation. that is the way they usually operate as far as I know........benefit of the doubt maybe??

either way I would be following up if I were you and find out what was done.

tinyfox

Will they tell me anything if I do ring to follow up? I didn't think they would

ppink

was it the national cruelty line you called or a local office?

I called a local office before and kept calling them to see what was being done.......ie was the animal ok, I am sure there is info they cannot give you but all you really want to know is will the horse be ok.

tinyfox

I tried the local office first but they said because it was a horse I would have to go through the ISPCA

Discodog

Don't be surprised if they can't or won't tell you anything. You have done everything that you could do but I suspect that you will continue to worry & wonder.

**Vai**

Just to add to my first point, my OH saw a dog being walked by a traveller the other day. She described it as being too young to be taken from its mother and said she doubted its eyes were open very long. Its tail had been docked (badly) and the wound had yellow pus oozing from it. The dog was quite obviously in a bad way and in considerable pain. The traveller told her that some of this pups siblings had been drowned because they were unwanted. I would consider the pups who were drowned to be the lucky ones.

Now, when she rang the ISPCA to tell them the condition and the location of the dog (halting site), she was fobbed off. As soon as the ISPCA heard it was a dog from a halting site, they tried to come up with excuses why they couldnt do anything about a clear case of cruelty. The phone call ended with my OH being told the warden will be over that way in the next few days and he will have a look. Brilliant.

Just wanted to share this story because I really believe these 'people' are getting away with murder as far as animals are concerned. All because the authorities are too scared to do anything about it.

Discodog

**Vai** wrote: »

Now, when she rang the ISPCA to tell them the condition and the location of the dog (halting site), she was fobbed off. As soon as the ISPCA heard it was a dog from a halting site, they tried to come up with excuses why they couldnt do anything about a clear case of cruelty.

I have heard this so many times. I am pretty sure that my Greyhound came from a traveller site. Sometimes the Guards, the SPCA's & the Vets are all too scared to do anything. The UK adopt a different approach in that they go in mob handed & make it clear that the cruelty will not be allowed.

I have seen the RSPCA attending a big horse fair that attracted thousands of traveller families. The RSPCA girl was fearless & the Police were there to back her up. I reckon they were more scared of her that she was scared of them.

The ISPCA only have five Inspectors covering thirteen counties so getting an Inspector to any case is going to be difficult. The whole ISPCA & local SPCA's situation needs a radical overhaul.

JupiterKid

Discodog wrote: »

I have heard this so many times. I am pretty sure that my Greyhound came from a traveller site. Sometimes the Guards, the SPCA's & the Vets are all too scared to do anything. The UK adopt a different approach in that they go in mob handed & make it clear that the cruelty will not be allowed.

I have seen the RSPCA attending a big horse fair that attracted thousands of traveller families. The RSPCA girl was fearless & the Police were there to back her up. I reckon they were more scared of her that she was scared of them.

The ISPCA only have five Inspectors covering thirteen counties so getting an Inspector to any case is going to be difficult. The whole ISPCA & local SPCA's situation needs a radical overhaul.

I completely agree with your sentiments.

The extent and level of animal cruelty in Ireland is shockingly high and the Traveller community appear to be among the worst offenders. However, the authorities appear to do very little to tackle flagrant animal cruelty for fear of upsetting the "do gooder" brigade.

The ISPCA needs much more support and staffing but in these recessionary times I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon.:(

doctor evil

I'm on a number of UK horsey forums, travellers still get away with murder when it comes to animal welfare. It is accepted that WHW/BHS welfare officer is better to deal with horses than the RSPCA

Cherry Blossom

Can we avoid making blanket statements that tar all members of any particular community with the same brush please.

There is good and bad in ALL walks of life, let's try to keep that in mind.

**Vai**

No doubt there are good and bad everywhere AJ but its no accident that alot of the bad stories you hear come from that one particular walk of life. Its also no accident that they get away with it because the authorities are either scared of physical violence or of being branded as racists.

I would also say that from what little (admittedly) Ive seen of the RSPCA, they seem to be steps ahead of the ISPCA in regard to dealing with this kind of thing. As DD said earlier, they go in mob handed and get it done. That is the only way to do it, no pussy footing around.