The Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) is appealing to horse and pony owners who are no longer willing or able to look after the animals to contact them, with a view to having them re-homed if necessary.
The National Horse Amnesty programme was announced in Dublin today.
Jimmy Cahill, Chief Executive of the Society, said there was an "equine crisis" across the State with the greatest problem in Dublin. "If we take just Dublin I would say there are about 2,000 unwanted and uncared for animals there. Then if we look at Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford, Cork, this runs into the thousands and thousands of horses. We actually have no idea exactly how big this problem is."
Last year the Society accepted 120 horses from across the State. Half of these were beyond veterinary treatment due to sickness or injury and had to be put down.
Mr Cahill said anyone who could not properly care for a horse, or who was concerned about the welfare of a horse, could contact the Society. It would then work with the owner to advise on how to better look after the animal or to advise on whether it should be re-homed.
"This represents a major shift in the Dublin SPCA service from firefighting to proactively working with horse-owners and concerned citizens to assist the animal before it is too late. We have had to do it."
The aim of the programme is both to save horses from suffering but also to stop the value of the horses being run down to the point where they were being sold at unregulated horse fairs for as little as €10.
Describing Dublin as "the end of the food chain", Mr Cahill said he did not expect to get any calls from Dublin in response to the appeal.
"We will get calls from owners around the country from people who care about the horses but genuinely can't care for them. These are the people we want to get to before they sell them on at horse fairs to youngsters who will ride them to death like cheap bikes.
"These are the horses we find in Dublin at the end of the food chain. We hear a lot about how these kids love their horse, but that's not what we see on the Fonthill Road, at Dunsink, on the N32. The truth is they don't care a curse, they have no relationship with the horses."
The dedicated horse amnesty phone-line will operate from Monday 4th April on 01 499-4747 where owners can ring in confidence and discuss their situation.
Separately, the lord mayor of Dublin, Cllr Gerry Breen, has written to the Attorney General requesting that legislation be drafted that would allow Dublin City Council to close the Smithfield Horse Fair. This follows disturbances at the fair earlier this month in which two people were shot and another man was injured with s slash-hook.
He also asked the AG to apply for court order restraining the organisers of the fair from operating "during the next couple of months" while legislation is drafted.
