Read more: Irish horses become victims of the recession
It’s believed that tens of thousands of horses around Ireland have been abandoned as Irish people struggle to cope with the financial crisis. Animal welfare officials have had to shoot some of the worst affected animals who were suffering.
The cost of keeping a horse in a stable in Ireland costs about $40, according to the Daily Mail, and although some families may have kept horses for generation the modern financial strains in Ireland means they simply can not afford it.
Ireland’s recent budget and austerity cuts are likely to result in a cut of 10 percent in Irish people’s disposable incomes, leaving them without the money to care for the horses.
Although Irish law means that horse should be registered and micro chipped, and therefore regularly identifiable, these law are not enforced.
It is also thought that reckless breeding is also a cause of the high number of neglected horses. The horse are being left to wander in the countryside as owners are unable to pay for their upkeep.
Just outside Dublin at the Dunsink tip thousands of horses have been abandoned. Many of them have been shot with a .32-calibre pistol as they are too week to survive.
The Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) has been forced slash its $500,000 budget for horses and ponies. However so far this year they have taken in 106 and cared for 115, according to the New York Times. This is to be compared to the 26 ponies and horses they had contact with in 2008.
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