THREAT TO WALKWAY AVERTED AFTER ANIMAL WELFARE ROW
A ROW between walkers and former athlete John Lenihan over animal welfare at Glanageenty has jeopardised public access to the popular amenity area located between Tralee and Castleisland.
Lenihan, a local landowner and former national and international champion mountain runner, has deep connections with Glanageenty walkway having trained there and maintained its upkeep over many years.
But when John received a phone call last week from the Kerry Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to say a walker had complained that John’s horses and ponies were being neglected it was ‘ the straw that broke the camel’s back’ according to John.
“This current complaint started about ten days ago when a friend phoned asking me to check to see if my ponies had water as a complaint was made that they were neglected,” John told The Kerryman.
“I checked and they had water. I then moved them to another field with plenty of grass and water but I received another call from Kerry SPCA to say they got a call from a person quite irate that they hadn’t got a response from the SPCA to reports of animals being neglected on the Glanageenty walkway,” he added.
John then posted pictures on social media showing his animals with access to food and water, and explained that due to the frequency of complaints in recent years he decided to rehome his animals to avoid further complaints from walkers.
However, local support for John and his wife Mary gathered momentum and a petition was set up in support of the couple. John added that his friends rallied telling him his animals were well looked after and that he shouldn’t get rid of them. The animals are back grazing on the slopes of Glanageenty.
“People have said to me since that the animals are back in Glanageenty where they belong. There was an issue about hooves being a bit long, but they weren’t reckless. I couldn’t get them done because of the lockdown, and once this was over they would be getting them cut,” he added.
Four different bodies are involved in making Glanageenty walkway available for public access - three private landowners and Coillte. John explains how every few years he asks the landowners to sign the contract to keep the walkway open. But this latest episode threatened to strain relations between John and some walkers to the point where he considered withdrawing his support for the historic walkway.
“If I was asked to sign for the walkway on Wednesday last I wouldn’t have signed for it to continue. I was really annoyed and frustrated. But the people rallied around me and they’ve come to me since saying what the walkway means to them.”
He continued “If I keep myself motivated, I’ve some hope of keeping the other landowners on board. If I lose the faith, they’re all gone. One of the landowners told me he had received agro about his animals and that he only signed it for me. Every time this happens it’s like a nail in the coffin as regards access to farmers’ lands,” he added.
John concludes by saying the vast majority of walkers are ‘very supportive’ of Glanageenty but that episodes like this have a ‘deadly effect’ on walkways much further afield than Glanageenty.
“I’ve had phone calls since from local landowners questioning ‘will they or won’t they’ allow walkers through their land. This has really made them sit up and ask `do they really want this hassle.’”