The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has echoed recent calls for an independent inquiry into shooting dead of cattle on a farm at Annacroft, Carrickmacross, last Tuesday.
The organisation has also written to the Garda Commissioner, calling for a garda investigation into the matter.
“We contend that the manner in which the cattle were shot was brutal and cruel, and caused unnecessary suffering in breach of the Animal Health & Welfare Act 2013,” stated campaign director Aideen Yourell.
“We do not believe that those responsible for this horrific slaughter had no option but to take this course, and clearly it was a botched and bungled operation.
“What is even more disgraceful is that the Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for animal welfare, sanctioned this brutality, and the Department of Defence participated, allowing the army to cruelly gun down these defenceless animals, while the gardaí stood by and let it happen.
“We are aware that our call will probably be dismissed, given that three powerful state departments, Agriculture, Defence and Justice were involved, so an independent inquiry is a must in this situation, but we hope that the Garda Commissioner will do the right thing and order a garda investigation.”
Earlier:
There have been calls for an independent inquiry into why the army were called in to shoot five cattle on a farm in Monaghan, earlier in the week.
In the Dáil the Independent TD Michael Healy Rae described those who ordered people “to pull the trigger” as a disgrace.
Others have questioned why efforts were not made to sedate the cattle so they could be easily captured as part of the bankruptcy proceedings.
Sinn Féin’s Martin Kenny believes the Department of Agriculture, Gardaí and Army all have questions to answers.
The Sligo Leitrim TD has said people from a farming background cannot understand why lethal force was used.
“The excuses being used that they (the cattle) were reactors of TB or something, it just doesn’t stand up,” said Kenny.
“Even if that were the case, cattle that get TB, they’re put on a trailer – they’re no different to any other cattle. There is no issue with any of that, you put them on a trailer and they go off to the factory.
“They’re killed and they do the proper test to see whether they actually had TB or not, and if they’re found that they don’t have TB, they go off to the food chain.”
