Graphic photographs of bones and bodies of dead calves shown at animal cruelty trial

Graphic photographs of the bones and the dead bodies of multiple calves and of a dying cow on a west of Ireland farm have been shown at Roscommon Circuit Court. Sean Coughlan (47) of Cum, Laherdane, Ballina, Co Mayo appeared before Judge Kenneth Connolly and a jury at Roscommon Circuit Court on Thursday for the second day of his trial in relation to alleged animal welfare offences. Seán O’Quigley, barrister for the Director of Public Prosecutions, opened the State’s case by questioning Arthur O’Connor, superintendent veterinary inspector with the Department of Agriculture.O’Connor told the jury that on November 10th, 2022 he received an email from a colleague saying that he had a problem with a herd Coughlan had at Laragan, Elphin, Co Roscommon regarding identification, movement of animals and whether animals had been tested for disease. READ MOREO’Connor said two animal health and welfare notices, dated October 14th, 2022, that had been served on Coughlan regarding a failure to test his animals, were attached to the email. The jury was shown a booklet of photographs including one, taken by O’Connor, in a part of a slatted shed which contained young calves along with two dead calves. In another photograph of one of the dead calves, which was tagged, O’Connor told the jury that it was “heavily soiled” with faecal contamination. O’Connor said in a further photograph, one of the calves’ eyes were completely sunken, and that its skin had “dried up completely” and that it was dead for “probably more than a couple of days”. O’Connor said that in a photograph of ground on a concrete yard outside, between a rusted oil barrel and a concrete wall there was a pile of dung mixed up with decomposed bones and the other remains of calves and a calf tag. O’Connor also detailed a photo of a “very emaciated” cow lying on bedding “severely” contaminated with faeces or “sludge”, in an A-framed covered shed with a concrete floor.He said that normally a cow would stand in such circumstances but that this cow did not. He added that the cow was “dog-sitting”, which was an “unnatural” way for a cow to sit, that there appeared to be “severe degeneration” or a dislocation or fracture of her right hip and “that she could not get up”. “This is a cow that is dying in that sludge,” O’Connor added. Coughlan has pleaded not guilty to 40 charges against him and Coughlan Farming Ltd, of which he is a director.The trial resumes on Friday to hear further evidence from O’Connor.