Up to ten dead lambs have been dumped from a bridge into a river near Dunleer in recent days. The grim discovery was reported yesterday to Sinn Féin Councillor Pearse McGeough who said he was sickened by the discovery.
A passer-by informed Councillor McGeough of the dead lambs that had been unceremoniously dumped over the bridge onto land in the middle of the river, on the old Belfast / Dublin R132 Road, at Cappogue, near Dunleer.
“I am disgusted at this” McGeough said. “No decent responsible farmer would carry out such an act. I have reported it to Louth County Council and the Inland Fisheries have been informed to rule out any contamination of the river. I have also talked to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) for guidance.”
“There are procedures in place for farmers to dispose of dead animals. The Fallen Stock Scheme facilitates the collection and responsible disposal of dead stock. The maximum cost for a sheep would be €30
“For anyone to dump dead animals like this is unacceptable and irresponsible not to say sickening and upsetting for the person discovering them” he said.
“I will be pressing for an investigation into this dumping and I really hope that whoever is responsible is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
“In the meantime I would appeal to anyone who saw anything over the bridge area along the River Dee on the R132 to please contact the authorities.
“The discovery was made on Thursday afternoon and based on the rate of decomposition, they would not have been there for very long, I would estimate anytime since the weekend. So anything suspicious that you may have noticed should be reported.”
In the meantime, authorities will remove the carcasses and dispose of them responsibly although according to Cllr McGeough, “that may prove difficult because of the location, they will be difficult to access.”
