Irish Examiner view: Animal abuse takes many forms

Dogs Trust Ireland has reported that there has been a “huge spike” in the number of people trying to surrender dogs as we move out of lockdown

President Joe Biden’s intervention in America’s beef market might resonate on this side of the Atlantic. The White House hopes to rebalance a market where farmers’ share of the price has, in five years, fallen from 51.5% to 37.3%, though the price of beef has increased. 

That just four processors control more than 80% of that market makes it easy to identify targets but it also suggests a level of power that might not be so easily curbed. That less than 5% of feedlots control 80% of the market strengthens that impression. 

The intervention may be about the redistribution of revenues — socialism, as a principled MAGA rancher might harrumph — but it is unlikely that any review of America’s hyper-industrialised beef production could overlook animal welfare or the environmental impact of mega feedlots. 

Some of those lots have as many as a million animals in their care, almost as many cattle as in all of Cork, a population that stands around 1,125,000, making up 15% of Ireland’s cattle.

If America’s farmers must wait to see how goalposts shift, British farmers are already dealing with change. Earlier this month, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed a ban on the export of live animals for slaughter or fattening. 

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill will include rules on maximum journey times, extended headroom, and additional welfare measures around the transportation of animals. 

Implications of bill

This may have implications for Irish hauliers who use Britain’s land bridge to reach continental markets. It also renews focus on the sustainability of our live export trade especially as animal welfare issues are one of the frontlines of today’s culture wars.

Another skirmish in that war was seen in recent days when representatives of the greyhound sector sought changes in a schoolbook they described as “misleading and inaccurate” but were seen as “measured” by publisher Folens. 

That industry, and horse racing too, face what may prove to be defining challenges as expectations move away from traditional interpretations of how we use animals.

If America’s feedlots are one extreme then a more intimate, but unfortunately revealing episode played out yesterday. 

Dogs Trust Ireland has reported that there has been a “huge spike” in the number of people trying to surrender dogs as we move out of lockdown. The charity gets around eight requests a day and says that the most common reason is that people struggle with dog behaviour. 

Essentially, the dogs are paying the price for the ignorance of those who bought puppies without having any understanding of the requirements or responsibilities of dog ownership. 

Already this year, the charity has surpassed the number of last year’s surrender requests.

Sadly, those figures probably deal with the luckier animals as those unable, or unwilling, to look after a dog may just dump it. This is exacerbated by a surge in dog breeding by those who imagined that pandemic prices — up to €2,000 for a fashionable breed of pup — might remain the norm. 

This selfish, heedless behaviour underlines that animal abuse takes many forms and that some of those who imagine themselves as animal lovers are all too vulnerable to that charge.