Animal garda crime unit needed in Ireland

Horses are suffering neglect, cruelty and abandonment across Ireland, My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue says.

Official figures show no equine welfare prosecutions were taken last year by the Department of Agriculture.

The charity, which took in 68 equines in 2025, says the scale of the crisis needs stronger enforcement.

Morning Ireland reporter Cian McCormack went with the charity on a callout to find an injured foal and witnessed the heartbreaking reality facing frontline welfare volunteers.

A mare stands tied in a field in west Dublin.

Her foal is missing.

There have been reports the young animal had a head collar embedded into its face with nylon cutting through its skin - maybe even embedded in the bone.

Martina Kenny, co-founder of My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue, is out with volunteers searching for the animal.

I'm with her recording a for a special Morning Ireland report and we are peering through a fence at the mare.

"Somebody might have a foal they don’t want," Martina explains.

"A boy foal especially.

Boys aren’t wanted because they can't reproduce.

So, they just hand them to kids.

'Here you go'.

And that kid might live in a flat."
"Is it all young kids who have these horses?" I ask
"It's kids and adults," she says, focusing her gaze at the mare again.

"She's a mare and we got reports that a foal had been with her and the head collar had embedded into the foal's face," she says.

I'm disturbed by the urgency in her voice.

She is concerned.

"We are going to drive around this area and see can we see it anywhere," she adds and says the foal could be hidden in a back garden.

Within minutes, we move in convoy.

One car ahead, another behind, phones open between drivers.

Driving through housing estates we see horses in green areas.

"Look in here," says Ciara, another volunteer on her mobile phone from the lead car.

There's a horse, but it's not the injured foal.

Fields.

Lanes.

Back gardens.

Disused land.

Everywhere is a possibility.

"Someone's moved her already… they’re watching," Martina says on the phone.

The injured foal is still not found.

"It could be anywhere ...

hidden away.

It's an urban area."
Not all cases end like this.

The previous day, Ciara tells me a call brought her and a group of rescuers to a horse, later named Patricia.

She adds Patricia is badly injured and is now at UCD receiving specialist care.

By the time I reach UCD Veterinary Hospital, Patricia has only hours to live.

"She's a cob … lovely, white with dapple grey," Martina says, as Patricia leans against the side of the stable door.

Her bones are sticking out.

You can see her ribs.

Her hooves are "broke to bits… and her head … her poor head," Martina says, gesturing to a sliced piece of raw pink skin.

She explains a head collar was left on too long and cut into Patricia.

It's clear Patricia is in a bad way.

She stands beneath drips and stares while leaning against the wall.

Equine surgeon Michael Duggan does not overstate it.

"Her outlook is very guarded," he says.

"Relatively poor."
The next 24 hours are critical.

The next day, as I visit My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue near Edenderry, in Co Offaly, there is bad news.

"She’s just been put to sleep," Martina tells me.

"There was nothing they could do."
But, as she tells me, Martina pauses and catches the fleeting sadness in my reaction.

"But she didn't die in an estate on the ground or in a field, left on her own to suffer," she assures me.

At the rescue farm the scale of what the animal charity is dealing with is clearly visible.

More than 100 equines occupy the farm along with pigs, goats, dogs.

Every stable filled, every paddock in use.

My Lovely Horse rescued 68 horses last year.

The year before the figure was 93.

Gardaí say more than 160 charges involving horses were brought under animal welfare legislation across 2024 and 2025.

But those figures cannot be broken down.

The Department of Agriculture secured no equine prosecutions last year and four the year before.

On top of this there is no central database to track these cases, according to the department.

Martina Kenny is frustrated because there is animal welfare legislation, but she wants to see stronger enforcement of laws.

"The problem is there aren’t enough prosecutions," she says.

"We need to make sure the laws are abided by.

The animal legislation is there".

Martina says a dedicated unit is needed and the various authorities - the Department of Agriculture, the councils, gardaí and groups like her charity - need to work together.

"We need an animal garda crime unit," she says.

In a statement, An Garda Síochána said it does not comment on remarks made by third parties.

It confirmed a senior garda officer met with "My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue charity and that An Garda Síochána in various divisions works with this charity to support a common aim of combatting animal cruelty".

It added: "An Garda Síochána is committed to combatting animal cruelty throughout Ireland".

The statement said that Animal Health and Welfare Liaison Inspectors are "nominated in Garda Divisions who have contact details of veterinary surgeons employed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and may be called upon to assist members of An Garda Síochána in their duties".

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine said in a statement that it takes the matter of animal welfare "most seriously and is committed to the enforcement of the Animal Health and Welfare Act, 2013."
It said that since the introduction of the Animal Health and Welfare Act that there have been 21 prosecutions relating to equines.

Four of those were in 2024.

There were none in 2025.

The department stressed in addition to the prosecutions taken by it, prosecutions may also be taken by gardaí and local authorities.

DAFM does not hold records on these prosecutions.

The department added: "Offences under the Act may be prosecuted in the District Court by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, local authorities and members of An Garda Síochána."
It said there is no central database to record these types of cases and that other agencies like local authorities may also have had prosecutions.

The Department of Justice and the Department of local government could not provide those figures when contacted by Morning Ireland.

Back at the rescue farm there's lots facing volunteers.

As a dog barks and pigs snuggle into pillows donated to the charity, volunteers in wellies muck out stables as hay deliveries arrive to feed the more than 100 donkeys, ponies and horses.

"This is Marine.

I fell in love when she arrived here.

She is a lovely little girl," Marine says as she kisses the pony's nose.

"She arrived in bad condition … she was really thin … now she is perfectly fine.

She is my favourite," adds Marine.

There's a bond between the two and the relationship is clear to see.

For ponies like Marine, the charity offers a second chance and a second life.

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