Horses’ carcasses left to rot in council-owned field
Residents of Ballybane in Galway are up in arms that two dead horses have been left to rot – one of them for more than four weeks – in a field owned by the City Council.
The stench from the two corpses has been overwhelming, forcing people to close their windows round the clock. The local authority field is near the local resource centre and playground and backs onto dozens of houses.
Both of the carcasses were dumped in the land-locked field and covered with rubbish and old carpets.
Resident Stephen Spelman said he reported the first horse to the Council’s environmental department a month ago. A staffer assured him the matter would be investigated.
When he telephoned a week later he was told that a warden had been dispatched to the field but was unable to find the equine corpse.
Mr Spelman said he went on holiday overseas and was shocked to discover on his return that not only was the carcass still there, a second one had joined it.
“You wouldn’t believe the foul smell. Even with the window closed, the smell comes in through the air vents – a decomposing body doesn’t smell too nice,” he remarked.
A spokesman for Galway City Council said a company which the local authority engages to deal with carcasses had advised them not to remove it due to health and safety concerns.
“We were told the remains would disintegrate and release gases which are not just noxious but dangerous. On their advice it was treated with a disinfecting chemical to quicken the process to dissipate the gases in order to remove the carcass,” he stated.
“A second carcass was discovered this morning. By the end of this week, they will both be removed by JCB.”
Later the spokesman said the horses would be removed by today.
“The control of horses is an ongoing issue across the city which our housing department are constantly monitoring and attempting to mitigate against. This is irresponsible behaviour of some animal owners,” he continued.
“We do keep on top of it as much as we can but it’s very difficult to monitor this, particularly when you have people dragging dead horses into a field and hiding them under a rock outcrop and under rubbish. It’s not very pleasant for our staff – or the people who live in the areas.”
Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel