{"id":436405,"date":"2026-05-07T06:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/436405\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T06:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:24:09","slug":"more-than-70-calf-carcasses-and-hundreds-unaccounted-for-on-limerick-farmers-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/436405\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 70 calf carcasses and hundreds unaccounted for on Limerick farmer’s land"},"content":{"rendered":"

********READER DISCRETION ADVISED – readers may find some of the details distressing and they involve animal cruelty and neglect involving very young calves *********\u00a0<\/p>\n

IN A damning indictment of the actions of a Limerick farmer<\/a> involved in one of the country\u2019s worst ever cases of animal cruelty<\/a>, an agricultural inspector said that he \u201cshould never have care of animals again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus Looby (68) of Raheen, Garryspillane, was charged with 318 counts of animal cruelty and neglect all relating to the time period between March 8, 2022 and September 8, 2022. He pleaded guilty to 173 counts on balance of all of the charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a sentence hearing before Judge Fiona O\u2019Sullivan in Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, the case was described by an inspector, who worked as a vet for more than 20 years, as \u201cone of the worst cases of animal neglect I have ever witnessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arthur O\u2019Connor, an inspector with the investigations unit within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, gave evidence at the sentence hearing. He said that the investigation was prompted by a complaint from a member of the public about a smell from around the lands owned by Mr Looby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecuting for the State, barrister Lily Buckley BL, instructed by State solicitor Brendan Gill, said: \u201cThis unravelled a tip of the iceberg situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their investigation, the department staff found 57 carcasses with identification tags, a further 22 without tags and 256 calves remained unaccounted for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Most of the animals who perished while under the care of Mr Looby were younger than eight months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor told the court that the defendant\u2019s herd number was also suspended at the time and he was prohibited from moving animals under that herd number.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court heard that he acquired these animals through private sales and sometimes only a nominal fee was involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another individual who was involved in the acquisition of the animals and who had given the animals to Mr Looby to care for and was meant to provide feed for the animals, was also referred to in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Representing Mr Looby, barrister Colman Cody SC, instructed by solicitor Michael Devlin, said that his client would be a person who is \u201ceasily led\u201d and he suggested that this other individual was the \u201cmastermind\u201d behind the entire operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor concurred to some degree with this and said: \u201cI could never determine the exact ownership of the animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

When inspectors went to the farm and investigated, some calves were euthanised due to the poor health they presented in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor said: \u201cOne calf was grunting, was breathing rapidly, the eyes were sunken into its head, it was very dehydrated and severely distressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that with another calf, the young animal was \u201cfrothing at the mouth, had difficulty breathing and was in extreme distress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor also witnessed \u201clive animals in the same area as carcasses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other calves who had to be euthanised were described in court as being \u201cthin, weak, listless and in severe respiratory distress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the carcasses found, there were parts of spinal cords, hip bones, jaw bones, as well as unidentifiable remains of calves. The court heard that some of the carcasses were in such a state that a shovel had to be used to gather them up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In total – across the 200 acres of farmland spanning across two farm sites – 68 calves had to be euthanised and only 18 were fit to be sold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor said: \u201cThey were the best 18 and still significantly below the Teagasc targets for calves of their age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor worked as a veterinary surgeon for 25 years before joining the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as an inspector.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of the calves who were found alive, he said: \u201cI found all of the calves to be stunted in growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was noted by barrister Lily Buckley BL that some of Mr Looby\u2019s family were present in court and that while they found it difficult to understand the actions involved, they were seeking to assist and support him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court heard that Seamus Looby has a previous conviction from 2017 in relation to cruelty and neglect of dogs, namely collies, where some deceased dogs and other dogs lacking nourishment were found in his care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were also previous convictions in relation to road traffic offences, which the court heard are not relevant to this case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court heard that since December, Mr Looby has complied with the herd suspension and has not moved animals on his land, while he has also leased his farmland to family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor said: \u201cIt is the department\u2019s position that Mr Looby should never have care of animals again.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked by barrister Colman Cody SC if anyone got any financial benefit from this situation, Mr O\u2019Connor said: \u201cNo one was making any money out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court heard that Mr Looby was fully cooperative with the investigation and never presented any obstacle or impediment to the investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graphic photos of the animals and carcasses found were shown to Judge Fiona O\u2019Sullivan in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Cody told the court that his client was married and has grown up children and that his marriage broke down in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lives an isolated existence and has for some considerable time,\u201d the barrister said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cHe only goes out at night to avoid contact with others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Cody said that his client felt \u201ctrapped by financial farming pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that despite offers of assistance and support that his client \u201cseems resigned and fatalistic in his attitude to his situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge O\u2019Sullivan adjourned the matter to June 3 to fix a date for sentencing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Looby was remanded on continuing bail on the same conditions as before.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"********READER DISCRETION ADVISED – readers may find some of the details distressing and they involve animal cruelty and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13553,42,1396,67397,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-436405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-circuit-court","tag-headlines","tag-limerick","tag-limerick-circuit-court","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}