Carcasses of calves and other animals have been found dumped at two separate sites in Northern Ireland in recent days.
One incident has been reported outside Fivemiletown in Co. Tyrone and another at a river in Limavady, Co. Derry.
Clogher Valley independent candidate in the Mid Ulster local election, Kevin Mcelvogue, took to social media to call for the removal of the animal carcasses at the Co. Tyrone site.
Mcelvogue said the scene consisted of “six or seven calves dumped down onto the riverbank and into the river”.
“There’s lambs, there’s ewes, there’s boxes of chicken parts,” he said.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has said that it is investigating the reports of animal carcasses being left in the river near Fivemiletown.
“It’s unbelievable what’s happening here. It’s totally unacceptable,” Mcelvogue said.
Mcelvogue originally attended the scene on April 7, and returned yesterday (Tuesday, April 11) to report that the “dead animals [were] still lying here”.
“We need to know when they’re going to be removed. It’s not good,” he said.
“The pollution is going into the waterways. Did they die of disease?”
Mcelvogue said the carcasses could be polluting the water as it carries “bits of them away”, and said that the animals “need to be moved immediately”.
A similar incident has been reported to have occurred near a beauty spot on Leighry Road, Limavady, Co. Derry.
Wildlife photographer Desmond Loughrey posted images and videos of lamb carcasses in the river on Twitter.
Loughrey said the dumping of the skinned lambs was a “disgrace” and said that there were about 15-20 dead lambs at the scene.
Also in recent days, in the Republic of Ireland, more than 50kg of raw chickens bones were found dumped outside of a dairy farm in Co. Meath.
According to farm manager Shane Corbally who discovered the dumped bones, they have since been removed.
