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.

But this isn’t just an animal welfare crisis. It’s a public safety and social justice issue, and one that demands urgent Government action.

Under the Control of Horses Act 1996, local authorities can designate control areas where horses may not be kept without a licence. Most urban estates, especially in social housing, fall within these zones. To keep a horse legally, a person must:

• Hold a valid licence; 

• Provide proper shelter, land, water, and food; 

• Ensure the horse is microchipped and registered with a passport. 

In reality, very few residents in disadvantaged communities have the resources to meet those requirements. Yet horses are still kept out of tradition, identity, or as a form of personal empowerment. The result is often heartbreaking: foals born into back gardens, horses tied to fences in blistering heat, or dumped to die in fields.

Councils frequently impound these animals, and many are euthanised due to injury, illness, or being unclaimed. But this reactive cycle solves nothing and the suffering continues.

To understand why this happens, you have to look beyond the rope around the horse’s neck.

In many cases, it’s poverty, isolation, or intergenerational hardship that’s holding that rope. For young people in these communities, a horse might be the only thing they feel they can control. For some families, it’s a cultural tradition. For others, it’s emotional survival in an environment lacking opportunity, structure, or hope.

This does not excuse the cruelty but it explains the conditions. And it reveals a deeper truth: if we fix one, the other will benefit.

Enforcement of animal cruelty laws is not just inconsistent, it’s often absent. In Limerick, for example, fewer than 10 reports of animal cruelty were recorded in 2024, despite clear evidence of widespread suffering.

This is not because cruelty is not happening, it’s because people don’t know how to report it, or don’t believe anything will happen if they do.

Without proper structures, even the best laws are meaningless.

My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue is calling on the Government to establish a dedicated, Garda-led animal welfare crime unit.

This unit should:

• Respond quickly to cruelty reports; 

• Support animal seizures and prosecutions; 

• Coordinate with the Department of Agriculture, councils, and welfare charities; 

• Build public trust and increase accountability. 

But we also need to empower the public. That’s why we’re calling for a nationwide public awareness campaign, urging people to report all instances of animal cruelty — not to social media, but to An Garda Síochána, and then to the Department of Agriculture.

If you witness:

• A horse tethered without water, shelter or food; 

• A loose or injured horse or foal;

 • Beating, dragging, or physical abuse; 

• Dead or dying animals in public areas; 

• Animals kept in unsafe, backyard or overcrowded conditions .

Report it immediately to An Garda Síochána — cruelty is a criminal offence under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013.

Record the location, time, and any identifiable details. Photos or videos help, if safe to obtain.

Then notify the Department of Agriculture for traceability and enforcement follow-up.

Inform animal welfare groups like My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue if urgent care is needed.

Silence allows cruelty to thrive. Reporting protects both animals and communities.

What we’re asking the Government to do: 

• Establish a Garda-led animal welfare crime unit; 
• Fund and launch a public information campaign encouraging cruelty reporting; 
• Mandate cross-reporting between gardaí, the Department of Agriculture, and local authorities; 
• Provide resources for early intervention, youth outreach, and education in high-risk areas. 

A tethered horse in a housing estate is more than an animal in distress, it’s a mirror of the poverty, policy failure, and quiet suffering endured by many.

But this can change.

Support the animal, and the person behind the rope may find support too.

Create a system that cares, and the cycle of cruelty will break.

Protect animals, Protect people.

• Kerry-Anne Pollock is head of animal welfare for My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue