‘I’ve had shovels swung at me’: Cork animal welfare inspector faces intimidation and assaults
Another rescue centred around dogs kept in a pen, some of whom had been left starving. File photo: ISPCA
Caroline Faherty still remembers ducking down to avoid the wrath of a shovel-wielding farmer whose dog she had come to visit during an especially heated welfare check.
The neglected animals in welfare cases are by no means the biggest threat to the Cork-based ISPCA inspector, but rather it's their intimidating owners who pose the real danger.
Despite finding herself subject to intimidation and attempted assaults, Caroline is steadfast in her mission to save as many animals as possible.
“I’ve been known to hop over walls fairly fast,” she laughs.
“If you’re in a dangerous situation, you need to be able to get out of it as quickly as possible. I have a rule that if I’m parked out on a job, my car should be facing home.
"A five-point turn isn’t really an option in these situations.
"You have to be diplomatic. Sometimes you can talk somebody around and they will even be apologetic by the end of the conversation. Often, they’ll admit they just got angry when they saw me coming.”
Caroline says being an animal inspector requires strong people skills.
“People say they would love my job because they want to work with animals — but to work with the animals, you have to be able to work with the people.
"I remember dealing with one guy who was swinging his shovel, trying to hit me. He was telling me to leave his property even though he was blocking my exit through the gate.
"I had to continue trying to talk to him. In the end, I told him to 'just put the shovel down so we can talk'. Eventually he did.”
Caroline admits there have been times where she had to phone gardaí for her own safety.
"The ironic thing was I wasn’t even calling to him. Still, he was intent on making life as difficult for me as possible. He saw me coming. He was trying to get into my van to get to my dog Pixie, who comes with me in the van on jobs.
"When the gardaí came, he started making life difficult for them. It ended with them taking a case against him for obstruction and threatening behaviour."
Other incidents have tested her ability to stay calm under pressure.
“About a year and a half ago I was in the city with the dog warden and the housing officer. We removed a variety of animals from a property.
"However, when the woman’s husband came back he threw himself on the bonnet of the warden’s car.
"We couldn’t go away while he was laying on the car so I had to explain to him that if he was stopping us from leaving, this was something he would go to jail for. It was only by explaining this to him that we were able to persuade him to get off the bonnet.”
She often spares a thought for the more genuine, and often complicated, cases.
“The Department of Agriculture take our cases for us. Myself and my colleague do the case file formation, which means we put all the work together.
"The solicitors then go through this and put it forward. There are some cases where I have to look at the bigger picture. I remember one case in particular where I didn’t prosecute because I knew it wouldn’t have been for the greater good.
"It involved a dog who was getting around on his knee as a result of an untreated broken leg. He had scar tissue on his knee after his injuries were left untreated. The owner’s husband had died by suicide.
"The dog ended up getting run over around the time of the funeral. The family were bereft and, in their grief, the dog got forgotten about.
"One of the children was unwell and, with all this going on, the woman was trying to run a farm. I knew that she had already had enough of a cross to bear without having a prosecution too. She just didn’t have the capacity to deal with the dog at such a difficult time in her life.”
Luckily, the animal welfare advocate managed to save the dog.
“The dog was removed and needed to have his leg amputated. He is now running around and playing ball in a happy home where he is very loved. Dogs are amazing in that they are so adaptable.
Other poignant moments have left an indelible mark on Caroline’s memory.
“There was one day where I took a wrong turn and ended up driving down a laneway. I knew I had gone wrong.”
Caroline had been preparing to step back into her car when a stranger approached her.
“He just looked at me and said: 'I knew this day would come'.
"I asked him if he wanted to show me what he was talking about, to which he replied: 'No, but I suppose I have to'.
"I ended up taking 30 dogs from him that had come about from indiscriminate breeding. This man was old and unwell.
"His wife had cancer. As life got more difficult, the dogs had continued to breed. Instead of going to the vet and getting them neutered, he just locked them away in a shed. I couldn’t believe it.
"Obviously, there was no way I was going to fit all those dogs into my car that day, so I took the most vulnerable puppies first and continued to come back and forth.
"It wouldn’t have been fair to overwhelm an animal rescue with that many nervous puppies at one time, so it took a lot of work to rehome them in different locations.”
Another rescue centred around dogs kept in a pen, some of whom had been left starving.
“The dogs were just having food thrown at them so it was a case of survival of the fittest. There was one dog I took whose fur was like cement. The fur was so dirty it had to be shaved off.
"At the beginning, she was so underweight that it wasn’t safe to give her an anaesthetic. It wasn’t until months later that we were able to get her neutered. It took a long while to build her up but she is in an amazing home now and has an amazing life.
"It’s where she should have been all along. We deal with a lot of people with mental health issues and addiction issues. Life has got on top of them.
“I took a dog from a person recently who initially didn’t want to leave me in the house. I knew things were bad just by standing in the doorway of their home. They explained that the place was really bad and the dog was never left out.
"I spotted their mobility scooter. That was when they started telling me about how they weren’t well and had trouble with their movement.
"They were caring for a family member that were unwell. I was able to reason with them by saying that their situation was very tough and they had a lot of responsibilities as it was.
"Me taking the dog would be one less responsibility for them and might make everything else that little bit easier.
"I think that was when they realised I wasn’t there to judge. As an animal welfare officer, you are there as much to help the person as you are the animal.”
