Reporting to ISPCA

Long Road 8378

Hi Everyone

I am told that when reporting to the ISPCA you are required to give your name. Which I find to be very understandable. However, I am also told that if the person you reported asks the ISPCA Officer who it was that reported them, that the ISPCA are obliged to tell. Is this true? I was very unsure when I heard this and would like to clarify.

The reason being, there are some very troublesome neighbours living down the road who own a few horses. They can be very intimidating and are not shy in causing property damage. My father-in-law has land near their house and they asked him if they could graze the horses on it. He agreed as he would rather they had food and were safe than be god knows where. Trouble is, I have noticed that they have started to tie one of the horses for hours and hours at a time on a very short rope. He just stands there all day and night rooted to the one spot. He cannot move from the spot he has been tied to and therefore has no shelter or access to any food or water, other than whats in front of him. It breaks my heart to see that this poor horse has no quality of life. I would LOVE to report them but as you can imagine I am afraid that my actions will result in any property damage to our home or my in-laws. (These particular individuals know our names and where we live. I live next door to my in-laws.) The horse is on land situated on a busy main road so I am quite happy to report to the ISPCA as there are loads of people passing on a regular basis and it could be any one of them. Which is why I would like to clarify the issue of giving your name.

Sorry if this sounds like a silly question, I am dying to report them but am afraid of causing trouble at the same time.

Thanks in advance.

EGAR

You will have to give your name but the inspectors will not name you if you make it clear. Also, the information cannot be gotten under the Freedom of Information Act as the ISPCA is not a government agency.

DBB

You definitely have to do something about... What a horrible situation.
I don't believe for a moment the ISPCA are obliged to tell who reported this to them... Law enforcement just couldn't work were this the case, and although ISPCA officers don't have the powers of state-run law enforcement agencies who definitely are under no compulsion to reveal their sources, I don't believe the ISPCA would be any different in this respect.
Why don't you ask them when you call? Just to reassure yourself!
Good on you taking action on this one, a horrible situation :-(

Long Road 8378

Thanks a million for the replies. Much appreciated.

I did want to ring and check with ISPCA beforehand to check and see if they would use my name but I was so afraid that they would say 'yes' and I would feel like such a demon for being too afraid to proceed with the call. I was delighted with the response on Boards and confidently rang them today.

The ISPCA do not deal with cases in Mayo so they referred me to the MSPCA. I rang them and the lady told me that as they are volunteers there was nothing they could do legally. Which makes a lot of sense. She told me to ring our local Department of Agriculture and speak to the Vet. They have some sort of an Early Warning programme which they can enforce. The man took my name (which he will not use) and took the details of the poor horse. The MSPCA also told me to give her the details and they, along with some others, will make a few calls as well and hopefully if there is enough of a fuss, something will be done about it. At this stage I would love to go down and steal the little guy in the middle of the night but for now I'm going to follow procedure!

Thanks again.

Tranceypoo

Hi, just to let you know I was in a similar situation a few years ago where there were horses in a field with no food, no grass, pure mud, awful. I phoned the SPCA for our county and although they were helpful they said there wasn't much they could do, they would try and call out etc etc, but they were swamped, I think I actually found out some info on here about calling the Dept of Ag because it was a farmer who owned them and once the Dept is involved their payments can be affected if they're not looking after their animals properly (even horses) and the situation was resolved (I also found out the name of the owners), nothing like hitting them in their wallets. However, I had to make a lot of calls and annoy a few people so it's worth persevering, good on you for doing something, so many people don't want to get involved especially when the horses are owned by a certain people.

Also, I think (I could be wrong here) that if it's your father in law's land, he could be liable for those horses.

marley123

Contact the Irish Horse Welfare Trust http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Horse-Welfare-Trust/191759453021

They are just superb & will be able to help!

Tranceypoo

marley123 wrote: »

Contact the Irish Horse Welfare Trust http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Horse-Welfare-Trust/191759453021

They are just superb & will be able to help!

When I contacted them, they told me they didn't cover my area of the country (Co Galway), made me wonder why they called themselves the IRISH horse welfare trust?!!

Long Road 8378

Hi Tranceypoo. Delighted to hear that you had some success with the Department of Agriculture. TBH, the fella I was speaking didn't sound as enthusiastic as I would have liked, but hopefully they will do something. Otherwise they will have to get used to the sound of my voice! I also found out that yes, my father-in-law could well indeed be liable for the horses on his land. He is aware of this but is well able for the Department and will tell them in no uncertain terms that their priorities should be lying with the welfare of the horses, not chasing him for trying to keep them safe and providing them with grass. Incidently, the poor horse in question has recently been moved from the family land across the road to land now owned by the council. Whether this will help or not I don't know.

Thanks Marley123, I will certainly contact the Irish Horse Welfare Trust. I hope they can help in this situation. It's worth a try.