Cattle cull was lawful but there were operational shortcomings, review finds

A cull of 51 cattle in fields near Fivemiletown in June was lawful and appropriate, but operational shortcomings existed, according to an independent review.

The report found that there was insufficient thought given, when planning the operation, to the visual and emotional upset felt by people who saw carcasses lying overnight exposed in open fields.

Ireland's former chief veterinary officer Dr Martin Blake carried out a review of the operation.

The Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir said the reports findings are "accepted in full with regular reporting and independent oversight put in place to ensure improvements are driven and sustained at pace".

The cull was was undertaken after a farmer was found guilty of animal welfare offences and ordered to dispose of his livestock.

The review was ordered by the agriculture minister following complaints from politicians and farmers over how it was carried out.

The cull led to an emergency committee meeting at Stormont and a protest, with calls for the Minister Andrew Muir to resign amid a vote of no confidence by farming leaders.

Muir told the assembly he will publish an action plan on the review's findings.

The Ulster Farmers' Union said it would "scrutinise the report in detail".

In May, a court ordered that the farmer be deprived of his animals when he was found guilty of animal welfare offences - they included 13 charges of failure to dispose of an animal carcass and six charges of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

He had a statutory two-week period to appeal, with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) giving him an extra week to make arrangements.

When the Humane Slaughter Team and departmental officials arrived to implement the court order, the farmer had made arrangements for 15 animals to be sold, but 51 animals remained on the farm, spread across three sites.

Most of the animals, on two of the sites, were culled by 13:30 BST.

When the operation began at the third site with four animals in the field, some members of the public witnessed it.

That lead to a protest and a pause in the operation.

Another farmer arrived, offering to buy the animals, but they escaped on to the road.

After they were returned to the field, a vet who had been called to the scene said they were distressed and that the operation had to finish.

It was complete by 21:45.

The carcasses were removed by a specialist contractor the following day.

During his review, Blake interviewed those involved in the operation, invited e-mail submissions from anyone who may have witnessed it, and had access to all paperwork and documentation.

His findings included:

• the department acted lawfully in implementing a valid court order
• staff made significant efforts in the period immediately following the court order to help the keeper dispose of the animals himself
• the culling method used was lawful and appropriate from an animal welfare perspective and culling in their familiar pasture surroundings is supported by the most modern science as the most humane course available
• there should have been greater consideration at the pre-operation stage of a graduated approach to the depopulation
• there was insufficient thought given, when planning the operation, to the need to arrange the swift removal of the cattle and to the visual and emotional upset felt by individuals who witnessed carcasses lying overnight exposed in open fields
• there was no indication to the minister or the department's senior leadership that the operation had faced the challenges, risks and issues
• there were shortcomings in clearance, field management, operational oversight, record keeping and dynamic risk assessment processes
• Daera could and should have done better in planning in advance how to explain the nature of and necessity for the operation

Following the report's publication, Muir said that "whilst the review finds that the operation was lawful, appropriate and sadly necessary from an animal welfare perspective, it's clear that operational shortcomings existed and planning gave insufficient consideration to the human and community impact".

"As minister I did not authorise or direct the operation," Muir said.

"When I then saw the distressing photos and videos of animal carcases and learned of the range of allegations that were circulating, I shared the genuine concerns expressed," he said.

He added: "That is why I moved quickly to order a full independent external review of the case. I would like to thank Dr Blake for his thorough and professional approach in conducting this review."

He said the report's 10 recommendations are "accepted in full with regular reporting and independent oversight put in place to ensure improvements are driven and sustained at pace".

The review made 10 recommendations including changes to:

• the process for determining the best approach to enforcing court orders in how operations are planned and signed off
• the way requests to dispose of livestock are handled
• the recording of information during complex operations
• the planning of communications for operations that may be visible to the public and cause concern

The Aera committee will hear from the permanent secretary and the chief veterinary officer in its regular meeting later this week.

There was criticism that neither Katrina Godfrey or Brian Dooher appeared at the emergency meeting in August.

The minister said that was due to personal reasons, and the officials who did appear had been directly involved in the operation.