Silence is allowing animal cruelty to thrive in our towns and cities

We need proper reporting and enforcement measures to end the cruelty to and neglect of horses kept in appalling conditions in urban areas

Urban horses are often tethered to railings, trees, or lampposts without water or shelter, abandoned in parks or waste ground, or running loose through traffic. File picture: Jim Hurley 

Across Irish towns and cities, from Dublin to Limerick, Cork, Drogheda, and beyond, urban horses are suffering in silence. Tethered to railings, trees, or lampposts without water or shelter, abandoned in parks or waste ground, or running loose through traffic, these animals are not just neglected, they’re being failed by a broken system.

This is not rural cruelty. It’s urban neglect, unfolding in social housing estates and city fringes where poverty, disconnection, and lack of enforcement intersect.