Cottage Rescue Animal Matters and Welfare Information

13/08/2023

Strong but dependent. This beautiful wild Sika calf was born in late July and will still be dependent on its mother until late October/ early November. Minister Malcolm Noonan TD is currently considering changing the culling season for female deer in Ireland, to allow culling when this calf is still dependent on its mother, causing the calf to be orphaned or suffer death due to starvation. Make your views known to [email protected] or [email protected]

Photograph thanks to Críostóir Grayson

13/08/2023

🔴Neurological and muscular abnormalities.

🔴Increased heart rate.

🔴Convulsions and seizures.

🔴Vomiting.

🔴Lethargy.

These are the effects of co***ne in dogs. Between 2018-2019, 13 dogs were found with co***ne in their system at Glasgow’s former Shawfield Stadium. The Greyhound Board of Great Britain’s (GBGB) own records show that dogs may also be doped with other performance-enhancing drugs.

📢 Read our blog 'Greyhound racing- why is it cruel?' to find out about all the welfare issues which plague the dog racing industry ➡️🔗 https://www.onekind.org/blog/greyhound-racing-why-is-it-cruel-01-08-23

Greyhounds should not be exploited for entertainment. But we need your help to bring an end to dog racing in Scotland.

📢 Please sign and share the open letter to The Scottish Government today to ➡️
🔗 http://bit.ly/unboundthegreyhound

❗You can add your name from anywhere in the world.❗

League Against Cruel Sports League Against Cruel Sports - Scotland Group Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home Scotland Against Greyhound Exploitation - SAGE Animal Concern Ltd GREY2K USA Hope Rescue

13/08/2023

This month, young foxes around Ireland are suffering horrendous cruelty as cub hunting season starts up again.

In the early hours after dawn, hunters surround earths and flush out the resident foxes. They then release their waiting hounds to attack and kill the cubs. The doomed youngsters will be mauled, bitten and pulled apart.

This merciless brutality is carried out ahead of the upcoming fox hunting season to introduce new hounds to the taste of fox blood. It also serves to disperse foxes – the parents and siblings of targeted cubs are scattered so that their wider distribution will later provide a bigger hunting area.

The hunters refer to their shameful barbarity as ‘Autumn hunting’ but their euphemism does not disguise the fact that it’s one of the Ireland’s nastiest acts of animal cruelty.

To do this to an animal should be illegal but our legislators have so far refused to ban fox hunting. They disgracefully voted to ensure that an exemption for the bloodsport remained in the Animal Health and Welfare Act and they rejected a proposed amendment which sought to make fox hunting an offence. Without the exemption in the Act, foxhunters would be liable to prosecution for animal cruelty.

Cub hunting and fox hunting are totally unacceptable in modern Ireland and must finally be stopped. Please join us in contacting the government and demanding a long overdue ban on these bloodsports.

ACTION ALERT

A RED C opinion poll, commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, shows that a 77% majority agree that the government should ban fox hunting. The poll found that just 12 per cent disagree with a ban on fox hunting. Tell politicians to respect the wishes of the majority and ban fox hunting.

Contact the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour Party to tell them that you want fox hunting and all bloodsports banned.

Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/

Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar

Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan

Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD

Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
Tel: (01) 6183136
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivanabacik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bacikivana/

Contact the Agriculture Minister and demand that the exemption for fox hunting is removed from the Animal Health and Welfare Act.

Charlie McConalogue
Minister for Agriculture
Tel: 01 618 3199 or 01 607 2000
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CharlieMcConalogue
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/

Contact all your local TDs and urge them to push for a ban on foxhunting and all bloodsports. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=33&disp=mem

Keep hunters off your land

If you are a landowner, make your land off-limits to hunters. Find out more about how to do this on our Farmers/Landowners Page – http://www.banbloodsports.com/farmers.htm

Sign and share our “Ban Blood Sports in Ireland” petition
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland

Witness the cruelty of foxhunting at
http://www.banbloodsports.com/videos.htm
https://youtu.be/cbLKs9pgQno

Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports

22/05/2023

18/05/2023

Communion season is upon us, and once again, the GRI is attempting to lure in the next generation of gamblers.

This communion season, choose compassion. Don’t spend the day at the Dog Track.

There’s nothing family friendly about Greyhound Racing.

18/05/2023

One of many corvids in our care at the moment.

The coloured rings are temporary whilst in our care so we can keep track of their progress and where they came from. They are removed in release. Rooks are members of the bird family Corvidae, which includes over 120 species of birds such as crows, ravens, magpies, and jays.
They are highly social birds that typically live in large communal nests known as rookeries, while corvids are known for their intelligence and problem-solving abilities, often exhibiting complex social behavior. They are found in most areas.
Unfortunately some people consider them pests, due to their scavenging and nest-building habits.
However, they play important ecological roles as seed dispersers, insect predators, and cleaners of carrion.

They are such magnificent creatures.

18/05/2023

Dungarvan Animal Matters and Welfare Information
3 d
·
Breeders, specifically ‘show breeders’ have ruined this magnificent breed. The dogs can barely walk straight.
This ‘standard’ has been set by the kennel clubs around the world. They are, deliberately, breeding deformed dogs and people are dumb enough to buy into this.
As for the comments from the show judge in the video - they simply beggar belief. He is an utter disgrace.
We are seeing similar coming from industrial scale breeders here too.
The Gsd is not supposed to be ‘down’ at the back. Being presented for show purposes is a ‘stance’ they are supposed to be placed in, and not a normal position as in almost walking on their knees!
The dog showing world has much to answer to, but particularly for what it’s done to the beautiful German Shepherd Dog.

18/05/2023

A scene of horror in County Meath where five heavily pregnant deer were mercilessly gunned down in a field.

Fully formed live fawn foetuses – believed to be days from birth - were then brutally ripped from the bodies of the dead hinds and their throats were cut. Their bodies were discarded like garbage in the field.

The obscene barbarity took place on 3rd April 2023 under a licence shamefully granted by the National Parks & Wildlife Service under Section 42 of the Wildlife Act.

The horror for wildlife is playing out all over the country, with a huge number of Section 42 licences being granted by the NPWS who report to Heritage Ministers Malcolm Noonan (Green Party) and Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail).

Section 42 licences facilitate the killing of protected wild animals and birds “causing serious damage to food (including human food products and animal feeds), livestock, poultry or agricultural crops (including vegetables or fruit) either on pasture or on cultivated land, pen-reared wild birds on any land, other fauna, flora, a woodland or a forest plantation, or a fishery, buildings and other structures and their contents, or aquaculture installations”.

A message posted on the website of the National Parks and Wildlife Service this month reveals the high number of licences being processed for the blasting to death of protected wildlife - “Due to the volume of applications currently being processed, please allow up to 3 weeks from the date you send in your application for a licence to issue.”

ACTION ALERT

Join us in urging Ministers Malcolm Noonan and Darragh O'Brien to investigate this brutality, take action against those responsible and stop issuing licences for the killing of protected wildlife.

Minister Darragh O’Brien (Fianna Fail, Dublin Fingal)
Tel: (01) 618 3802 OR (086) 251 9893
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DarraghOBrienTD
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD

Malcolm Noonan TD (Green Party, Carlow Kilkenny)
Minister of State for Heritage
Tel: (01) 618 3148 OR (01) 618 3156
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votemalcolmnoonan1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm

14/05/2023

14/05/2023

Greyhound Racing Ireland's stadiums were between 75% and 93% empty at races last year – statistics which leave no doubt that the public has largely rejected the cruel, dog-killing activity.

Attendance details for Greyhound Racing Ireland's tracks were released in response to a Dail Question from Mick Barry TD.

GRI has deceitfully attempted to boost its "attendance" by ridiculously including the presence of those involved in racing at tracks, i.e. greyhound owners, greyhound trainers and bookmakers. However, when this large proportion of entries is removed, a true picture of actual attendance emerges.

Three tracks – Tralee, Youghal and Limerick Stadium (headquarters of Greyhound Racing Ireland) – were more than 90% empty on average at race meetings in 2022. The others were between 75% and 87% empty on average.

Only two of Greyhound Racing Ireland's tracks had an average attendance greater than 200 people, i.e. Curraheen Park in Cork City (229) and Shelbourne Park in the capital (561). The other tracks had average attendances ranging from 152 down to just 18 – Limerick (152), Galway (146), Newbridge (127), Tralee (116), Mullingar (66), Waterford (65) and Youghal (18). See below for more details.

Figures are not yet available for the privately-operated tracks.

Greyhound Racing Ireland's inclusion of greyhound owners/trainers and bookmakers in its "attendance" figures is an attempt to mislead and convey a level of public support for greyhound racing which does not exist.

The low level of public interest in greyhound racing has been brought to the attention of the government as part of a renewed appeal to politicians to end the massive state grants that keep greyhound racing afloat. Since 2001, over €309 million in funding has been shamefully handed over to Greyhound Racing Ireland, including €18.2 million for 2023.

Growing awareness about suffering and death in greyhound racing is a contributing factor in low attendances.

At races around Ireland in 2022, 287 greyhounds were injured and 122 killed. Since 2014, at least 3,050 greyhounds sustained injuries and 1,060 died or were killed at races. The Irish Greyhound Board figures are based on “reported” injuries and deaths, suggesting that the actual number could be even higher. They do not include the greyhounds injured at tracks and later killed elsewhere, or the thousands of greyhounds who are killed behind the scenes every year because they are not fast enough to win races.

Watch RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” documentary
https://youtu.be/ZYTb2qBjlMM

SEE ALSO

287 greyhounds injured and 122 killed in racing in 2022
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2023/02/15/122-greyhounds-killed-in-racing-in-2022/

ACTION ALERT

Don’t go greyhound racing or attend events at greyhound tracks. Please join us in urging the government to end the state funding that is keeping the dying greyhound “industry” afloat.

Since 2001, over €309 million in funding has been handed over to Greyhound Racing Ireland, including €19.2 million for 2021, €17.6 million for 2022 and €18.2 million for 2023. It’s time for politicians to stop the funding and allow unpopular greyhound racing to die a death.

Please contact your local TDs and urge them to oppose this funding. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33

Urge the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour to stop the funding and back a ban on cruel greyhound racing

Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/

Leo Varadkar TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradka

Eamon Ryan TD
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan

Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD

Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
Tel: (01) 6183136
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivanabacik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bacikivana/

Please sign and share the petitions

Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-racing

GAA: Stop club fundraisers at greyhound tracks
https://www.change.org/p/gaa-stop-club-fundraisers-at-greyhound-tracks

Tell Gain Pet Nutrition to Stop Sponsoring Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/jimtracy-glanbia-ie-tell-gain-pet-nutrition-to-stop-sponsoring-greyhound-racing

Greyhound track attendance statistics for 2022

CURRAHEEN PARK
Stated “attendance”: 31,166 / Actual attendance: 23,637
Average attendance: 229
Race meetings: 103
83% empty

GALWAY
Stated “attendance”: 19,407 / Actual attendance: 14,043
Average attendance: 146
Race meetings: 96
85% empty

LIMERICK
Stated “attendance”: 25,548 / Actual attendance: 17,044
Average attendance: 152
Race meetings: 112
92% empty

MULLINGAR
Stated “attendance”: 12,264 / Actual attendance: 6,392
Average attendance: 66
Race meetings: 97
75% empty

NEWBRIDGE
Stated “attendance”: 9,402 / Actual attendance: 6,349
Average attendance: 127
Race meetings: 50
80% empty

SHELBOURNE
Stated “attendance”: 90,577 / Actual attendance: 80,175
Average attendance: 561
Race meetings: 143
87% empty

TRALEE
Stated “attendance”: 26,079 / Actual attendance: 16,757
Average attendance: 116
Race meetings: 145
91% empty

WATERFORD
Stated “attendance”: 13,064 / Actual attendance: 6,351
Average attendance: 65
Race meetings: 97
85% empty

YOUGHAL
Stated “attendance”: 9,483 / Actual attendance: 1,682
Average attendance: 18
Race meetings: 96
93% empty

14/05/2023

14/05/2023

By Deb Haines We all want to help our beloved pet cross the threshold from life into death, peacefully and gently. Whether we call it ‘putting our pet to sleep’, ‘putting our pet down’ or ‘euthaniz…

14/05/2023

Animal welfare columnist, broadcaster and vet, Pete Wedderburn, has said that a promised ban on surgical artificial insemination must apply to all dogs including greyhounds.

Describing it as “unnecessary, highly invasive and often painful for dogs”, “Pete the Vet” outlined in his latest column what surgical AI involves: “A female dog is anaesthetised at the time of ovulation, and her abdomen is cut open (in a similar way to the spaying operation). The surgeon locates her uterus, and injects semen directly into it, before suturing the wounds closed.”

He pointed out that the procedure has already been banned in the UK, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands and that after reviewing the facts, the all-party Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture recommended a ban on surgical insemination.

Highlighting concerns that those involved in greyhound racing may seek to evade the ban – as they attempted to do in the past in relation to compulsory microchipping - he emphasised that “there is no reason why greyhounds should be excluded.“

“Greyhounds are dogs - they need to be protected from unnecessary suffering, just like other animals,” he stated.

Read Pete Wedderburn's full column at
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/lifestyle/pete-wedderburn-banning-of-procedures-is-needed-to-protect-dogs/a1853747690.html

Last month, the office of the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue confirmed to ICABS that a ban on surgical artificial insemination “will be implemented”. Responding to a renewed appeal for a ban to be put in place, a spokesperson for Minister McConalogue stated: “The Minister recently convened a Working Group on the Control of Dogs. The report of the Working Group contains a number of recommendations. Following its approval by Cabinet, the report has been published online. Recommendation 10(c) of the report is ‘Prohibit surgical artificial insemination in canines’. It is intended that the recommendations of the working group will be followed up and implemented in the coming period.”

Download the Working Group's report at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/0d6d7-working-group-on-control-of-dogs/ -of-the-working-group-on-the-control-of-dogs

A ban on surgical artificial insemination is long overdue in Ireland. It is already against the law in the UK, with the British Veterinary Association stating that “experts say it is highly unethical and painful for bi***es due to the subsequent pregnancy putting pressure on abdominal wounds”.

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons notes that “Surgical Artificial Insemination is prohibited by UK animal welfare legislation which legally restricts mutilations to animals (i.e. procedures which interfere with sensitive tissue or bone structure)”.

11/05/2023

11/05/2023

Cat found in Cashel. Ginger tabby (male).
Approx 7-8 months old. Found outside Grogans Ice-cream parlour, Lower Gate Street.
Currently safe with finder. Tel 087 4081220

11/05/2023

And the public are losing hope that their reports will be acted on