A judge has strongly criticised the behaviour of a North Cork dog breeder who obstructed and stopped a veterinary inspector from removing a neglected dog from her kennels in a standoff that lasted over an hour.
Judge Colm Roberts said it was totally unacceptable that Eily O’Callaghan (56) and her sons, Michael (25) and Thomas (24) had barricaded Cork County Council veterinary inspector Carol Nolan and her associates in their yard by blocking them with their cars.
All three, Eily O’Callaghan, Thomas O’Callaghan and Michael O’Callaghan of Sallybrook Farm, Knockskehy, Tullylease, Charleville, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction under Section 44 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 when they appeared at Mallow District Court.
Ms Nolan told how she visited Ms O’Callaghan’s registered dog breeding establishment in Tullylease with ISPCA animal welfare inspector Emma Carroll and Cork County Council dog wardens, Don Kelly and Gavin O’Dwyer, on November 7th, 2023.
There was no one at home so she rang Ms O’Callaghan on her mobile phone and left a voicemail before they began their inspection, where they found a thin nervous male poodle who smelled of strongly of urine, and she concluded that the dog was in poor condition.
The council had served an improvement notice on Ms O’Callaghan in March 2023 under the Dog Breeding Establishment Act, and she decided to seize the dog after deeming Ms O’Callaghan was in breach of an Animal Health and Welfare Notice served and affirmed by a court in 2016.
She rang Ms O’Callaghan again on her mobile and left a message to say that she was seizing the dog. Within 15 minutes, Ms O’Callaghan and her sons arrived in two cars. Ms O’Callaghan became defensive and said the dog was in good condition and refused to allow them to remove him.
There followed an hour-and-a-half long standoff in which the O’Callaghans blocked their exit by pulling their cars across the driveway and the public road.
Gardaí arrived within 20 minutes but the O’Callaghans refused to move.
They were finally able to leave when the gardaí suggested a compromise and Ms O’Callaghan’s vet, Daniel Hutch, who arrived at the yard, carried out “a cursory examination” of the dog on the public roadway, said Ms Nolan, adding the entire inspection took four hours because of the obstruction.
Defence barrister, Paula McCarthy BL, said Ms O’Callaghan had pleaded guilty and was deeply remorseful for her actions, but it was an isolated incident and out of character for her. “Rightly or wrongly, she didn’t want the dog to leave before her vet had attended to it.”
Ms McCarthy said her client had since given up dog breeding as she had a serious heart condition and she had since taken a course in animal welfare, prompting Judge Roberts to observe that she might consider completing “a course in charm and how to deal with people”.
Judge Roberts noted that Ms O’Callaghan had previously benefited from the Probation Act after she admitted breeding dogs without a licence, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the Probation Act again if she gave a number of undertakings to the court.
He ordered her to pay prosecution costs of €2,460 and donate €3,500 to the ISPCA. He said he would also give Michael and Thomas O’Callaghan the benefit of the Probation Act if they each donated €1,000 to the ISPCA. He adjourned the matter to February 17th for finalisation.
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