ISPCA calls for animal welfare standards to be strengthened following prosecution
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The ISPCA has called for the government to introduce mandatory minimum animal welfare standards for animal rescue organisations following the prosecution of a woman who ran a rescue centre.
Beatrix Urban, 55, pleaded guilty in Mullingar District Court to 25 offences under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, represented by Helen Johnson BL, said she had caused unnecessary suffering to a number of animals on her property and had shown neglect and recklessness with regard to the animals’ welfare.
Ms Urban was fined €1,500 on one charge and Judge Seamus Hughes also ordered her to pay an additional €1,000 towards costs of the investigation. The other 24 charges to which she pleaded guilty were taken into consideration.
Judge Hughes also imposed an order under section 58 of the 2013 Act which restricts Ms Urban as to the number and type of animals she may keep. She cannot replace any animals without the written consent of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Ms Urban’s solicitor, Patricia Cronin, told the court that she had run a rescue centre on her property up to 2007/08.
Conor Dowling, chief inspector of the ISPCA, said: “In this case the owner had accumulated a large number of animals, more than she had the facilities to adequately care for. Whatever the circumstances, animal neglect will simply not be tolerated.
“This case is one of a number involving the cooperation between the ISPCA and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.”
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