GARDAÍ HAVE LAUNCHED an investigation after a horse was found dead on a road in a housing estate in Cork yesterday evening.

The horse was found collapsed on the road at Hawthorne Estate at Dublin Hill at around 5pm.

Gardaí responded to a call reporting the horse in distress. The horse subsequently died and was removed by Cork City Council at 7pm.

In light of the incident, local Cork councillors have been calling for tighter regulations to be put in place in relation to sulky racing.

Workers’ Party Councillor Ted Tynan said the incident was appalling and that more efforts need to be made to regulate sulky racing in the area.

“It was the most disrespectful thing to do to an animal, it had collapsed from exhaustion,” Tynan said.

“The treatment of the horses is my concern. They showed total disrespect, it was appalling. There’s not enough efforts being done,” he said.

Echoing the remarks of Tynan, Fianna Fáil councillor Kenneth O’Flynn said this incident wasn’t the first of its kind in the area.

“I’ve spent 10 years working as a councillor. I have seen animals being beaten badly on numerous occasions,” O’Flynn said.

Whatever about sulky racing being a tradition, this shouldn’t be carried out on tarmac roads.

When asked by TheJournal.ie about whether enough work is being done to try to prevent animal cruelty in Cork, O’Flynn said there wasn’t, but that Cork City Council doesn’t have enough resources stop all incidents.

“If we were to collect all horses roaming around there would be dozens, and what do you do with that? By right what we would have to do is inspect them and find a sanctuary for them. We don’t have that money available to us nor do we have vast amounts of land to open sanctuary,” he said.

“We need gardaí to go in and say you haven’t chipped your animal.”

ISPCA inspector Lisa O’Donovan said that “someone knows something” about the incident and the charity is urging people to “check their conscience and give us some information”.

“This is barbaric, it is horrific, it is awful for an animal to suffer like this,” she said.

An investigation into the incident has been launched by An Garda Síochána.

Read: Gardaí renew appeal for information about Ballinasloe crash which killed two women

More: Homicides increase by nearly 20% after review finds gardaí inaccurately recorded all types of crime

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