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Some of the dead horses the Sunday World found after a tip-off
A woman from south Armagh has had 23 horses – which were rescued following a Sunday World investigation – forfeited in court.
Mary Short, from Annvale Green, Keady, didn’t attend Dungannon Magistrates Court to put up a fight for the horses which belonged to her.
The horses were seized by welfare officers on three separate occasions after we alerted them to their terrible plight.
Almost 100 horses were left on a remote farm at McCaffrey’s Mountain, near Clogher, Co Tyrone last November.
When we visited the area we found dozens had already died of suspected starvation, in freezing conditions.
We were tipped off about the horses which had been left without shelter or food.
The case was taken by Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council who has the responsibility of animal welfare in the southern region.
They were applying to the court to take ownership of the horses from Short after the Sunday World had handed them a dossier about the abandoned beasts.
Short had the opportunity to attend the hearing and oppose the forfeiture but she didn’t show up.
During the hearing it was claimed by a solicitor making the application that when questioned by police about the horses Mary Short had given them a false name.
It was claimed this had caused a delay in processing the application which was granted by Judge John Meehan.
The animals seized included piebald mares, Cob gelding ponies and a donkey.
It’s not known if there are plans to bring criminal charges in relation to these horses.
It’s also not clear what will become of the horses now.
Last November the Sunday World carried out an investigation into the 100 horses which were put on the farm at McCaffrey’s mountain near the border with Co Monaghan.
We found carcasses of several horses who had obviously starved to death and we passed our information to the relevant authorities.
They removed some of the animals which were still alive.
Following our first report it’s understood some other animals were secretly removed to a remote quarry in Co. Mongahan.
However when we returned to McCaffrey’s Mountain seven weeks later we found more horses had perished.
We contacted the Southern Group Environmental Health Committee who told us they had been made aware of the plight of the horses at the start of November.
Along with Dungannon Council they are the body tasked with animal welfare for that region and it is known one of their inspectors visited the farm and removed some dead animals.