A farmer and transporter were convicted at Dungannon Court for causing an animal to be transported that was not fit for the journey.
On Monday, March 11, Aeneas Carragher (59) of Skerriff Road, Cullyhanna, was convicted of one charge of causing an animal to be transported that was not fit for the journey. Carragher was fined £500 plus £15 offender levy.
Wayne Smyth (35) of Annvale Gardens in Keady, was convicted of one charge of transporting an animal that was not fit for the journey. Smyth was fined £500 plus £15 offender levy.
The case arose on February 13, 2023, when a DAERA Official Veterinarian (OV), at an abattoir, examined an animal that was presented by Smyth on behalf of Carragher.
The cow was very thin and shivering. A lairage worker attempted to make the cow walk, but the animal immediately fell in the pen.
The OV carried out an ante-mortem examination of the recumbent cow. The animal was emaciated with prominent transverse and dorsal spinal processes, and the OV estimated that the animal had a body condition score of “1” or less.
The animal was humanely destroyed, where she lay, to avoid any further suffering.
The OV’s professional opinion was that this cow was too thin and weak to have been transported and was caused unnecessary suffering by this action.
