Horses let wander on public roads are being put in grave danger by their owners and are also posing a risk to motorists, and action must be taken to deal with this problem.
This is the view of Independent county councillor Jim Cuddy who has written to the chair of the Joint Policing Committee, Cllr Peter Roche, calling on him to request the Gardai, the Galway County Council, and the ISPCA “come together and tackle this escalating problem”.
“There are road safety and animal welfare concerns to be addressed here,” said Cllr Cuddy, “and I hope there will be progress soon.”
Cllr Cuddy said he is “particularly concerned” about horses loose on the Headford Road, which he said, “has resulted in a number of near misses recently”.
He added: “We should not be waiting for a serious accident to occur before this problem is addressed.”
He said by law all horses are required to be micro-chipped to ensure the owner can be identified at all times and particularly in cases of neglect and accidents’.
“The biggest problem with the roaming horses is that the owners cannot be identified,” said Cllr Cuddy. “In many cases horses are roaming because the owners do not have grazing land or feed for the animals
