Pony rescued from upstairs apartment in Listowel finds 'forever home' in Cork

Teddy, the Shetland pony is now 'living a life of luxury' on his own acre of land, after being adopted by a man living just south of the city

Teddy the Shetland pony at his new home just outside Cork City. Picture: Maurice Enright

A pony that was recently rescued from an upstairs apartment in Co Kerry has found his “forever home” just outside Cork City.

Teddy, the Shetland pony is “living a life of luxury” on his own acre of land, after being adopted by a man who first heard about the animal’s plight in the Irish Examiner.

Brian contacted Maurice Enright, owner of Sera Husky and Animal Rescue in Listowel, to offer the animal a new home.

“I was over the moon when I got the phone call from Brian. He has two acres of land, a couple of pot-bellied pigs, another little pony named Charlie, and that’s his set up.

Teddy and his new friend Charlie. Picture: Maurice Enright

“He wanted to do this because he has the space, he’s got a stable and he just wanted to help.” According to Maurice, Brian was looking for company for Charlie when he came across the story in the Irish Examiner.

“He literally rang me around 10pm that night. He didn’t expect me to pick up, but look where we are now,” Maurice said.

Everything is perfect, the stables are immaculate, and I couldn’t be happier, this will be Teddy’s forever home.

Maurice first became aware of Teddy’s plight when he came across videos of the horse clopping around the small upstairs apartment in Kerry, on the video sharing platform TikTok.

“It’s all for TikTok, that is what they’re getting these animals for, and that is why they’re taking them up into apartments and putting them into these places.

Maurice Enright with Teddy at the animal shelter in Listowel. Picture: Domnick Walsh 

After being rescued from the apartment, Teddy spent a few weeks under Maurice’s care at Sera Husky and Animal Rescue.

“He came to the rescue, and we did what we had to do: We gave him his shots and got him used to other horses and animals.

“He is just a pure pet; he is literally like a little dog. He is very small, probably no more than 3ft tall.

Still to this day, I don’t know how they got him up those stairs, but my guess is that they lifted him.

“He was nervous and anxious because he didn’t really know what was going on,” Maurice said.

Teddy and Charlie have an acre each to graze on. Picture: Maurice Enright

Maurice has now rescued 16 dogs and a pony from that same apartment in Listowel.

“They have just been a bit of a nightmare, that one apartment. We have taken 16 dogs now and a pony from that place,” he said.

Teddy the Shetland pony at Sera Husky and Animal Rescue in Listowel. Picture: Domnick Walsh  

Last month, two dogs were left outside the apartment in crates on the hottest day of the year, and sadly, one has since passed away.

“They were left outside on the hottest day of the year. They were extremely dehydrated, we ended up losing little Sid, he was a little Lurcher.

“Everything failed, his pancreas, his liver. 

I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. His eyes were rattling around in his head, he was so dehydrated.

“Once we started to try feed him, everything started to break down because everything was already dead, if you know what I mean.

“He passed away after about 4 days, and that really got to me. I just don’t understand how you can do that.

“They are defenseless, a bigger dog can fight back to a degree, but a little guy in a cage has no chance,” Maurice concluded.