19 convicted for dumping carcasses

This is according to Agriculure and Rural Development Minister Michelle O’Neill, who had been asked to provide the figure by North Down MLA Peter Weir.

The Sentinel revealed last October that dozens of horse and farming animal corpses had been dumped illegally and left to rot in the Limavady Borough over the course of the past three years, according to figures released at the time by Environment Minister Alex Attwood.

In a series of separate incidents dating back to 2010, the carcasses of agricultural and equestrian animals were dumped illegally on a shocking 23 occasions, with a total of 30 corpses illegally left to rot.

Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill has also spoken in recent weeks about the number of reports of farmers burying cattle. She had been asked by another North Down MLA, Alex Easton, “how many cases of illegally disposed animal carcases have there been reported in the last three years?”

Ms O’Neill replied: “There have been 110 reports of burial of cattle by farmers during the period 01/01/2010 until 31/12/2012. This method of disposal is illegal and the farmers concerned have been advised of this. Enforcement action will be taken against any farmer who repeats this action. To date no farmers have been prosecuted for this.

“DARD receives reports of illegal dumping from members of the public and enforcement agencies.

These reports are received on sporadic but infrequent occasions. All reports are investigated and of

these 21 were investigated by the Central Enforcement Team resulting in 10 convictions.”

When the Sentinel revealed the shocking number of animal carcasses simply left to rot in the Limavady Borough last year, the council chief in Limavady tasked with looking after the environment has warned that the rotting carcasses could spread disease or poison water supplies. Noel Crawford, Director of Environmental Services at Limavady Borough Council, when the figures showing how many animal carcasses had been left to rot in the Limavady Borough were released, explained to the Sentinel why it was so important animal carcasses are disposed of properly: “Carcasses need to be disposed of properly for a number of reasons. Firstly there is the risk of disease if they are just dumped because other animals- foxes, dogs, birds etc. can scavenge on the carcass and this can spread disease. He added: “Also there are the aesthetic effects, obviously it would be very unsightly if there were rotting carcasses littering the land plus the odour that would come from them would be horrendous. In addition,if the carcass was dumped near a river there would be the risk of water pollution.”