On the pig’s back: Singer Cathy Davey’s rescue mission
The singer-songwriter finds room in her inn for all creatures great and small
DO YOU like animals?’ It’s the first question Cathy Davey asks myself and the Irish Mail’ on Sunday’s photographer as we arrive on a crisp December morning at the gate of her animal rescue in Co. Kildare.
The reason for her question soon becomes apparent as we are introduced to a stream of large, inquisitive, healthy-looking beasts, including a pig who lives in Davey’s living room.
But more of that later.
Wearing muddy boots, jeans and a windcheater, Davey, the chart-topping Irish singer, looks every inch the farmer as she opens the gate to her animal nirvana.
Her familiar blonde head leads the way as we tramp up to see the first of her rescue animals, a collection of sheep and pigs.
This is the My Lovely Horse rescue farm, one of three animal shelters which Davey has largely shelved her music career to run.
At the end of the driveway which is flanked with pig pens and horse and sheep paddocks, is a beautiful 17th-century farmhouse which she shares with her partner, fellow musician Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy.
As she picks her way through the mud, her love for the animals surrounding us becomes ever more apparent. Each is addressed by name and each comes over to her for a back scratch or tummy rub.
She rattles off the history of each animal, including their sometimes complex medical problems. Animal welfare is key here.
‘I just feel lucky to be able to do this work,’ she says matter of factly. ‘I was born to do this. I always knew I’d end up looking after animals and here I am.’
The singer, whose hit album Nameless topped the Irish charts in 2010, now spends most of her days caring for sick and neglected horses and donkeys, helping them to be rehabilitated and rehomed.
Along with a team of volunteers, many from overseas, Davey’s three farms care for around 200 animals which also include goats, pigs and dogs.
She started the rescue work in 2010 when she met two women from Dogs Aid – sisters Martina and Deborah Kenny – and she began helping them with rescue dogs.
‘We saw that it wasn’t just dogs who were being ill-treated and sometimes when we were called out about dogs, we would see other animals that we could do nothing about,’ Davey recalls.
‘Around 2010 there was a surge in horse welfare cases and there was a horse crisis that year, a very bad winter followed by a very bad spring.
‘It soon just grew and we found this place. There’s really no space big enough though, because they just keep on coming. There are badly treated, neglected animals everywhere.’
Davey says trying to balance her music career with looking after animals became too difficult.
‘It just couldn’t happen. You have to give yourself full time to this,’ she says.
‘You are either focused here or on there.’
Mind you, Davey has just completed a rare recording for a movie soundtrack.
Little Caribou is an environmentally themed story about a young Inuit sister and brother living inside the Arctic Circle who discover some very unusual creatures when an ancient iceberg visits their bay.
‘It’s a lovely fit, and I’m delighted to be doing it,’ she says.
Conveniently, Davey and Hannon have installed a recording studio in their house. (My Lovely Horse is named after the song he wrote for Father Ted).
‘I can work away on the farm and he can record in there,’ she says.
‘We don’t go on holiday really. When we have, we’ve had to return early because of some problem here. I can’t be away on tour or away in the studio. I can still do some nice festivals though.’
The Electric Picnic is a favourite for Davey, not least because it’s always a profitable fundraiser for her My Lovely Horse and My Lovely Pig rescues which cost over €500,000 a year to run.
Like every other charity, they have been badly hit by the Covid pandemic.
The fundraising events that normally take place haven’t happened this year, leaving them €90,000 in debt. The pandemic also meant that the volunteers who man the organisation haven’t been able to travel, though they’re trickling back now.
‘It’s been back-breaking but we’ve kept going,’ says Davey.
A fundraising drive by Dublin brewers D8 Beers in partnership with Third Barrel Brewing has been a big success. The proceeds from the company’s first beer, a delicious Christmas blend, are all going to My Lovely Horse rescue.
Animal lovers can also make a one-off donation towards the char
ity on mylovelyhorse.com or sign up for a monthly payment.
All of the money goes directly on the animals’ welfare.
Back at the sanctuary, we’ve completed our tour of the animals and are in Davey’s farmhouse where Jet, a gorgeous, black potbellied pig is living because he suffers from chest infections.
Tender: Cathy gives a peck to one of her sheep and, left, gets a head rub from Mama goat Davey sits into his dog bed with him and he nuzzles her affectionately. She explains that he simply wouldn’t survive outdoors because of his weak respiratory system.
What does her partner think of a pig in the house?
‘Well, I get away with it, just,’ she says with a laugh. ‘Actually I’m planning to bring another one in to keep him company.’
For more information on Cathy Davey’s animal rescue project, visit mylovelyhorse.com. nicola.byrne@mailomsunday.ie