A judge lamented the loss of traditions in Ireland today as he handed down the first conviction in the State this week (February 20 ) for the illegal gelding of a horse.
“The skill and tradition you had handed down by your father and grandfather, you can’t hand on to the next generation,” Judge Seamus Hughes said to horse gelderer Terry Martin (64 ), a small farmer from Bawnboy, on the Cavan/Fermanagh border.
“Unfortunately, you can’t sell cabbages in Cavan or mackerel in Mayo where I’m from any more. Everything’s licensed. Thing’s that were legal years ago no longer are,” he sympathised with Martin as he fined him €1,250 in costs and expenses.
Earlier the court heard how Martin had travelled to a small farm in Curraghboy, Co Roscommon on June 16, 2011 to carry out the castration, or gelding, of a number of horses for local farmer, Brian Ward.
Martin used a traditional method of incising the scrotum under local anaesthetic, and tying off the blood supply to the dropped testes, until they fell off in about two weeks.
The summons against him was brought by the Veterinary Council of Ireland, and was the first under 2005 legislation outlawing such practices by anyone not registered with the VCI.
“He wasn’t aware he was committing an offence. He watched his father and grandfather do it for years. He handed over all paraphenalia, and didn’t try to conceal anything,” said his solicitor, Ms Mary McAveety.
Martin took the stand and Judge Hughes quizzed him on when would be the optimum age, and why one would castrate a horse, and added: “There are people here who know a lot more about horses than me - like television stars”.
“Trying to get an answer out of a Cavan man is not easy,” he noted as he was met with some reticence.
“I’m not the taxman,” he reminded the defendant to much amusement.
Martin claimed his method was painless, and though the judge was cynical, he criticised the VCI for not bringing a qualified vet to challenge this under oath.
He also admitted to buying the anaesthetic “from a man with a van in the North”, which also raised a judicial eyebrow.
“You call it cutting, don’t you, when they can’t perform?” asked the judge, and Martin nodded.
“I wonder when solicitors stand up in front of me and tell me their client is half cut, is that because he can’t perform?” mused Judge Hughes, before accepting Martin had no previous convictions, and didn’t know it was illegal.
“You can no longer call yourself the best castrator in Cavan. Never castrate another animal again,” he said before ruling on the costs and expenses.
