Irish animal welfare helpline gets record 2,040 calls in 10 months

About 1,000 staff within the Department have been designated as authorised officers under the Act.

There were 1,609 calls in 2023 and 1,251 in 2022. The numbers for each of the two previous years were much lower, at 880 and 846. File photo

The number of calls being received by the Department of Agriculture’s confidential animal welfare helpline is on the rise, according to figures given to Cork North Central, Fianna Fail TD Pádraig O'Sullivan by agriculture minister Martin Heydon.

A total of 8,836 calls were received in the period from 2020, with a record 2,040 calls being recorded for the 10-month period up to the end of October this year, compared with 2,210 for all of 2024.