Monaghan County Council has been notified of a number of serious cases relating to dead animal dumping this year.

“We have had 20 cases of dead animals being dumped around the county so far this year,” the county council’s veterinarian Brendan Smyth told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“The worst case I ever witnessed took place in Drumfir, Knockatallon. We found 35 lambs, two ewes and a tonne fertiliser bag of wool fleeces dumped along a kilometre of road near the border. The person must have driven along and thrown out three or four lambs every 50 to 100 yards.

Sheep carcasses found in in Drumfir, Knockatallon, Co Monaghan.
“This must have been a sizeable sheep farmer as all the lambs were no more than two weeks dead.

“Alternatively, someone may have offered to collect dead lambs for people and this is where they decided to dispose of them.”

Dead calf

The latest case of animal dumping reported was a dead calf found on the shore of Annachree lake near Shantonagh, Co Monaghan.

The dumped carcase was found just 10 metres from a sign warning the public that the lake supplies drinking water and prohibiting the extraction of water with slurry tankers and dumping of waste.

Smyth said: “The dumping of a calf on the edge of the lake really took the biscuit.” The vet speculated if the dumping was to avoid the cost of proper disposal of a dead animal.

“I’d say whoever dumped the calf didn’t come from too far away and knew the area,” he added.

Tracing the animals

Smyth said any calves found illegally dumped in future will be traced back to the dam using the genomics scheme.

“We probably should have been doing the genomics test sooner but we will test it out in the near future.”

Northern Ireland border

Smyth reports that many similar cases take place within half a mile of the border with Northern Ireland.

“These people look for quiet locations along the border where no one will see them. I can understand someone trying to save a few pound but these acts are unbelievable and inexcusable.”

Tonne fertiliser bag of wool found in Drumfir, Knockatallon, Co Monaghan.

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