HORROR AT DEAD FOAL IN KILMAC
ANIMAL BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN A FEW MONTHS OLD
A DEAD FOAL was found on the roadside in Kilmacanogue last week.
The animal, pictured right, had been bound by the feet with blue rope and dumped in the ditch. The young horse may have already died prior to being left there and it appeared that wild animals had been scavenging on its remains.
The foal was first seen on Quill road on Tuesday morning, and was removed by the authorities by 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
The organisation ‘My Lovely Horse’ are asking people to get in touch if they have any information about who left the foal there or how it died.
‘It may have died from natural causes and been dumped illegally, but we have no way of knowing,’ they said.
THE carcass of a dead foal lay on the side of the road in Kilmacanogue for 24 hours over last Tuesday and Wednesday.
The animal’s legs had been tied up with blue rope and it appeared that wild animals had been scavenging on its remains.
The organisation ‘My Lovely Horse’ are asking people to get in touch if they have any information about who left the foal there or how it died.
‘It may have died from natural causes and been dumped illegally, but we have no way of knowing,’ they said.
Gardai in Bray said that Wicklow County Council disposed of the young animal.
A local woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, was walking in the area last Tuesday evening when she saw the foal on the side of the road.
‘It was very visible from the road,’ she said. ‘It was Tuesday evening when I saw it. It had been there since that morning as other local people had seen it.
‘I had a look and realised it was a foal, about two or three months old.’
The woman said that the animal was more than likely dead before being dumped. It appeared to have been eaten from its hip through to its stomach. It could not be established if the foal was male or female.
She said that it was a distressing sight. She warned children she met along her walking route not to look in that direction as they passed.
‘I can’t find anyone with CCTV in the area,’ she said.
A community alert message went out to the Kilmacanogue area to see if anyone saw any suspicious activity that could identify who left the horse there.
Locals and the Rathfarnham-based ‘My Lovely Horse’ organisation contacted the authorities on a number of occasions between Tuesday morning and Wednesday. The animal was removed by 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
Given the damage to the animal caused by being out in the open, it was not possible to tell if it had been mistreated while alive.
Any equine animal must have a passport. A foal must be micro-chipped and issued with a passport before it leaves the birth holding.
However, foals under the age of six months that are unweaned do not require a passport.