Celebrities take stand against puppy farmer
Famous faces object over ‘appalling’ farm as online backlash forces country singer to cancel tour after our story
LOUIS Walsh, Mary Black and RTÉ’s Sharon Ní Bheoláin are among a group of celebrities who have taken a stand against one of the country’s biggest puppy breeders, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
They have lodged a formal objection to Ray Cullivan’s bid for retention permission for his puppy farm in Poles, Co. Cavan.
It comes as a separate online backlash against country music singer and puppy farmer Eamon Jackson – who is also from Cavan – forced a UK tour to be cancelled after an MoS story about him was shared repeatedly on social media.
Some 35 celebrities, including Ms Ní Bheoláin, Walsh, broadcaster Maia Dunphy, and singers Rebecca Storm, Tommy Fleming, Linda Martin Brian Kennedy lodged an objection with Cavan County Council.
Their protest followed a BBC Panorama exposé into the ‘horrific conditions’ on Mr Cullivan’s farm.
It has since emerged he was running an industrial scale puppy farm despite being prohibited from using the buildings for commercial trade.
In their objection, the stars said: ‘We are a group of Irish musicians, artists and TV personalities deeply concerned about animal cruelty and specifically, given the present circumstances, canine welfare and puppy farms in Cavan.
‘BBC Panorama documented the appalling and inhumane conditions in which hundreds of dogs were being kept on Mr Cullivan’s puppy farm. The use of portable crates, specifically prohibited by the Dog Breeding Establishment Act guidelines, were used to confine bitches who had, or were about to, whelp.
‘What I saw will haunt me for a long time’
‘The belated statement put out by Cavan County Council that these boxes were no longer in use did little to assuage widespread public fears and concern about this dog breeding establishment,’ the objection stated.
They also called on Cavan County Council to take enforcement action against Mr Cullivan.
When contacted by the MoS, Mr Cullivan said that he had not seen the submissions and was making no comment.
He had been given permission in 2006 to build stables and an arena for domestic purposes. He then proceeded to use the buildings for the lucrative puppy farming business, seemingly in contravention of his permission.
This only came to light after secret filming by Panorama showed the ‘horrific’ conditions in which dogs were kept.
The broadcast shocked viewers and provoked intense criticism of Cavan County Council, whose officials inspected the puppy farm six times but found ‘no animal welfare concerns’.
BBC reporter Sam Poling said that what she saw on the farm ‘will haunt me for a long time to come’. She added that nothing prepared her for seeing ‘barns filled with dogs, every breed, age and size, many cowering in corners, others shaking in cages, with little or no bedding’.
In another development, Cavan country singer and puppy farmer Eamonn Jackson’s planned UK tour has been cancelled by the six venues he had booked to play because of public opposition.
Last week, the MoS revealed that Mr Jackson – also known as Eamon Mulvaney – had hundreds of dogs more than his licence permitted at his puppy farm at Redhills Co Cavan.
He did not respond to calls.