Council told dead horses 'are litter'

The government department responsible for maintaining the roads in Northern Ireland has told a local council that dead horses lying on a road are considered to be litter.

The department's position emerged during a dispute over who would pay for removing the horses which died after they were hit by a car on the Newry by-pass in February.

A contractor employed by Newry and Mourne council cleared up the mess and the council forwarded the bill to the Roads Service branch of the Department of Regional Development.



It replied that under the law a dead animal carcass is defined as litter and that it is district councils' job to keep roads clear of litter. The Roads Service is only responsible for removing litter from motorways.

In a statement the department added: "Clearly Roads Service would still respond to an emergency situation where a larger animal has been killed on the road and is causing an obstruction. This would normally entail moving the carcass to a safe location beside the road and notifying the relevant district council."

The Sinn Fein mayor of Newry and Mourne Charlie Casey said the bill was only around £500 but he found it "fairly distressing" that dead animals would be classed in the same way as burger wrappers.