Stormont agriculture minister orders external review into Fivemiletown cattle killing

By Claudia Savage, Press Association

Stormont agriculture minister Andrew Muir has ordered an external review of the killing of a number of cattle outside Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone.

The minister said he would engage with MLAs in relation to the intervention by his department.

DUP MP Carla Lockhart posted about the incident on social media saying that “51 cattle were destroyed by shooting” and that witnesses described scenes “like the Wild West”.

Lockhart also said that “confidence in the department has taken a real hit because of the way this operation was handled”.

Chairman of Stormont’s agriculture committee, UUP MLA Robbie Butler, said he had written to the department “seeking urgent answers on the reasons for the cull, procedures followed, animal welfare assessment and other issues”.

Muir recognised that animal welfare is an “important issue for the people of Northern Ireland”.

“I fully appreciate the concerns expressed following the euthanasia of cattle near Fivemiletown, undertaken following a court order,” he said.

“I want to reassure everyone that I and my chief veterinary officer take those concerns very seriously.

“Engagement with the UFU and the USPCA to hear their concerns is already planned and a review of the circumstances surrounding the intervention is also being taken forward.

“To provide assurance and ensure that the circumstances and context in which the actions of veterinary staff took place is more fully understood and any lessons for the future identified, I have now determined that this review must be taken forward by someone outside the department.

“We will very shortly publish the terms of reference and, once the review has been completed, will also make public the findings and recommendations and share these with the Assembly.

“I have also asked to meet the chair and deputy chair of the AERA Committee to set out the particular circumstances surrounding the intervention that took place and to outline the actions we are taking and I look forward to this engagement.”