Anger over ‘heavy-handed’ removal of cow

THE Department of Agriculture has been criticised for calling in the gardaí to help them move a dead animal hit with a mysterious cancer at a farm in Askeaton, Co Limerick, where more than 800 animals have died inexplicably in the area in the last decade.

Three department officials were accompanied by two gardaí when removing the cow in the Cappagh/Croagh region.

A spokesperson for the department said the gardaí were called when the farmer failed to allow them take a blood sample from the cow.

The farmer, who doesn't want to be named, has since ordered his own vet to take tests from the cow. These bloods are set to be independently analysed. The department is also willing to have the tests examined but the farmer has refused this offer.

More than 180 cattle have died prematurely on this farm since 1989 and the farmer was forced to sell his milk quota to pay bills.

The swoop has been criticised by local farming organisation, the Cappagh Farmers Support Group (CFSG), who described the move as heavy handed.

"The stress that this caused to the farmer was unnecessary and way over the top. Why does the Department keep doing this?" CFSG spokesperson Pat Geoghegan said.

Askeaton gardaí said they accompanied the agriculture officials to prevent a breach of the peace but their services weren't required.

The move was also condemned by the Labour Party's Agriculture spokesperson Dr Mary Upton.

"Actions like this lead to a breakdown in goodwill and it prevent the co-operation, which is required if we're to establish why these problems keep happening. Surely this family has experienced enough trauma?" she said.

Dr Upton is calling for a new independent health review into claims that 55 people three times the national average have died from cancer in a two mile radius in Askeaton. She also suggested the cancer registry might adjust their methods of calculating cancer statistics in relation to the area.

The department insisted yesterday it was legally required to take the controversial cow to a rendering plant because it had been dead for two days.

"We wanted to move the animal because it was destroyed two days earlier and the farmer had delayed moving it," a department spokesperson said.

"It has to be pointed out that we do not believe there has been an outbreak of cancer among animals in Askeaton," the spokesperson added.