A Sinn Féin County Councillor has said the re-occurrence of dumped cattle carcasses in north Louth has left the farming community there “very worried”.
Louth County Councillor Tomás Sharkey said a bullock was found at the side of the road near Rassan last week, near where a dead calf had been found the week before.
As the tags have been cut off the two animals, Sharkey said there is no way of knowing if the cattle originated from across the Northern Irish border.
According to a Garda spokesperson, no complaints of any dumped animals have been made to Gardai in Louth in recent months.
“These incidents are being reported to the county council. There’s a health and safety issue here because these cattle have obviously died of some condition or disease,” Sharkey said.
The farming community are very worried that dead cattle are being dumped close to a watercourse in ditches along the roadside.
“They are afraid that disease could spread among their own healthy herds and farms.”
In 2013, six cattle carcasses were found at the entrance to a forest park in Louth.
“It seems to have come back in the last number of weeks in this area around Rassan. We had a lull for a number of years, but it seems to be a re-occurring problem,” Sharkey said.
He said he believed either a farmer or “some agent the farmer is paying” to remove the dead cattle is behind the dumping.
“When you live in a border region and you have double the amount of agencies to report livestock deaths to, it’s a difficult one to keep your eye on.”
In the past we’ve had dead cattle with their tags cut off washed up in the river in this area of north Louth.