The recent theft of Jackie Healy-Rae's albino pony has highlighted the growing problem of horse rustling in Ireland, writes Grania Willis
Horse rustling is an increasing and indiscriminate phenomenon, as Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae discovered when his albino pony, Peg, disappeared from his Kilgarvan farm recently. The colourful Kerry man, who turned 75 on March 1st, this week put up a €1,000 reward for the return of the mare, which he and his grandson bought together as a foal seven years ago.
"I'm sick over what happened and my grandson is in a terrible state," he told The Irish Times. Following media saturation recounting the theft on the airwaves and in print this week, Jackie Healy-Rae says he has had telephone calls from all over the country. But despite several alleged sightings of the pony - instantly recognisable by her white coat, pink eyes and muzzle - Peg has yet to be found.
It's an all too familiar story. The vast majority of horses and ponies stolen in Ireland are never seen again, either shipped to Britain or sold on somewhere for a quick buck.
Tizzy, a 20-year-old chestnut pony mare was stolen from Co Armagh in the middle of October last year and, apart from a positive sighting on the day she was taken, all further investigations have drawn a blank. "We still haven't got over it," owner Florence Sinton told The Irish Times this week. Tizzy was microchipped and Sinton is still hoping that she will be found.
On a farm less than a mile away from the Sintons' home, four in-foal donkey mares disappeared from a field on November 29th. Owner Jennifer Clint made a nationwide appeal and, seven weeks later, the donkeys were found in a field in Rathkeale, Co Limerick. Local gardaí discovered that, of the 30 horses and ponies grazing in the same field, nine had been stolen. A chestnut pony seemed to fit Tizzy's description, but when the microchips were scanned, the number didn't match the Sintons' pony.
JOHN O'SULLIVAN IN Ballinhassig, Co Cork said this week that there is still no sign of the three-year-old Welsh Section B filly his daughter bought with her First Communion money, despite the distribution of 4,000 flyers throughout the country. The pony and a 161cm mare were taken in mid-February, but O'Sullivan is convinced the pony will be traced because she's been microchipped.
But microchipping has two major drawbacks. The animal has to be found before the microchip can be scanned to verify identification. And there's the additional problem of reading the code contained in the microchip.
Currently, there is no universal scanner and no central database. With as many as seven different organisations using microchips, if the wrong scanner is used, no reading will be obtained.
Microchipping is mandatory in thoroughbreds. And animals registered with the Irish Horse Board in the Irish Draught Horse and Irish Sport Horse studbooks must also be microchipped, but there is no such ruling governing non-pedigree animals. Under new EU legislation introduced in October 2004, all equines must have a passport, with distinctive markings such as white spots or whorls in the coat noted in the documentation, but enforcement of this legislation is sporadic, to say the least.
Sharon Newsome of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust, which has set up a stolen horse register, believes that the ease with which horses can be moved out of the country is encouraging thieves. Both she and Ivor Young, who offers freeze-marking services through Padlock-Ireland, say that there is virtually no enforcement of the passport regulations at ferry ports either in the North or in the Republic.
So are the stolen animals being sold off to the meat trade? Those that remain in Ireland certainly aren't, as Irish abattoirs will no longer take in animals without proper documentation. But once they leave Irish soil - and the majority do - their fate is less certain. There have even been stories of horses being used for drug trafficking, with drugs being inserted into the animals' rectums and smuggled out of the country.
Owners need to be vigilant if they are to prevent theft. Animals should be checked regularly and gates kept padlocked. Freeze-marking acts as a major deterrent because of its high visibility. Microchipping is deliberately invisible, but micro-marking - a four-centimetre freeze-mark that identifies that the horse is microchipped - provides the benefits of both services. Lip tattooing and hoof branding are other available options. Photographs of the animals taken in summer and winter, when the coats are very different, can aid identification.
If the worst should happen and a horse or pony goes missing, owners should immediately contact the gardaí and get in touch with the local horse pound and ferry ports. But, as John O'Sullivan says, "it's like looking for a needle in a haystack".