An Otago farmer has been fined $12,000 and banned from owning cattle for a range of welfare problems contributing to the death of over a dozen cattle.
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Carolyn Sybil Ireland (55) was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court, after pleading guilty to 4 charges under the Animal Welfare Act, including reckless ill treatment and ill treatment of animals, following a successful prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
She was fined $3000 on each of the 4 charges, along with being disqualified from owning or being in charge of cattle for 5 years. She was also ordered pay costs of $11,179.29 for veterinarians, cattle yard hire, musterers and trailer hire.
"Most people in charge of agricultural animals do the right thing – ensuring they receive timely veterinarian care and plenty of quality feed. Carolyn Ireland failed these animals – something that was evident during our intervention," says MPI Regional manager, animal welfare and NAIT (National Animal Identification and Tracing) compliance, Murray Pridham.
Carolyn Ireland’s farm at Omimi has about 60 sheep and had about 150 cattle when MPI inspectors attended the property in September 2021. They found serious problems including a lack of pasture, supplementary feed and 6 dead cattle lying in various areas of her land. Veterinarians concluded they were underweight and would have suffered prolonged pain and suffering before death.
Additionally, 6 pregnant heifers also had to be euthanised as they were too small to deliver a calf without suffering pain, distress, and eventual death. Furthermore, in October 2021 when all animals were mustered, 4 other emaciated cows were humanely euthanised.
"Since 2013, MPI has intervened several times at this farm because of animal welfare issues. It's particularly disappointing to find such a poor situation when we’ve invested many hours and resources into trying to get Carolyn Ireland to do the right thing for her animals.
"When we find evidence of deliberate cruelty or welfare abuse – we will prosecute, and today’s sentence is the result of having exhausted all other methods of trying to improve animal welfare at her farm."
Mr Pridham says Carolyn Ireland has been cooperative with an order to destock her property of all cattle.
In addition to the animal welfare offences, Carolyn Ireland was also fined $3,000 for failing to register 21 cows into the animal tracing NAIT system, something that is critical given the threat of foot and mouth disease. ■