Connacht Tribune
Rescue centre’s year-long search for missing Georgia results in happy ending
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A year-long search for a missing rescue horse came to a happy ending last week when those seeking the animal’s safe return discovered her for sale in Ballinasloe – with a new foal in tow.
Georgia, who had been adopted from My Lovely Horse Rescue in Kildare last year, had been sold on by those who took ownership of her – in breach of the contract those who adopt from the charity sign.
Director of My Lovely Horse, Eoin Cullen, said when volunteers at the organisation discovered this, they were heartbroken and set about finding Georgia in a nationwide search that went on for over twelve months.
“When any owner agrees to adopt one of our animals, they sign a contract which states the animal can’t be sold on. If they can’t keep the horse for any reason, it comes back to us. In Georgia’s case, the owner broke that agreement.
“We have a lot of volunteers who work with us and they had always been checking Done Deal and other sites like that in the hope she might turn up,” explained Mr Cullen.
It was on Done Deal that one of their volunteers identified Georgia on sale from an owner in Ballinasloe who, when contacted, was thankfully very cooperative, he continued.
“Once we’d found her, we discovered that she’d actually been sold on four times. We made contact with the guy in Ballinasloe who was trying to sell her and he was very helpful – he couldn’t believe that she was one of ours,” said Mr Cullen.
Georgia was microchipped and had a passport, but none of the four people who took ownership of her had bothered to check, something which Mr Cullen said highlighted a broader problem when it came to the sale of horses in Ireland.
“We’re always the biggest advocates for chipping and getting passports, because it gives everyone involved transparency when they’re dealing with animals. When we found that she was missing, we notified Horse Sport Ireland who put a flag on her so if anyone checked, they would have known she was missing – but obviously nobody wanted to check.
“It’s a constant problem – you can buy and sell horses for as little as €30 and €40. Kids are swapping them for mobile phones,” said Mr Cullen.
Sites like Done Deal weren’t appropriate market places for horses and those wanting to buy horses should have to do so through proper sales yards, to ensure that everything is above board, he continued.
“When it’s being done online, there are no checks that the person buying the horse is equipped to look after an animal. In the case of rescue horses like Georgia, because she was a rescue animal, she had already been through a traumatic experience so it was very upsetting for her to go missing,” said Mr Cullen.
The man who had taken ownership of her in Ballinasloe had looked after her, he said, and was surprised when she foaled given that he hadn’t been told she was pregnant, but the timing suggested she was covered very soon after she was sold by the adoptive owner.
“When he got her, she was a bit skinny and he believed the previous two owners weren’t in good standing
“There were many tears when we went to collect her and we were delighted to get her and her foal back home. She’s still with us now and we’ll wait until we can get her the best home possible before she goes anywhere,” said Mr Cullen.
Connacht Tribune
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Connacht Tribune
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Connacht Tribune
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
![](https://archive.connachttribune.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Teresa-Roche.jpg)
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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