Green Limerick: Big boost for local charities on National Animal Awareness Day

TWO LIMERICK charities will benefit from the vital funding of more than €5.8m allocated to 99 organisations across the country announced on Animal Welfare Awareness Day.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD announced the record funding for animal welfare charities, marking an increase of more than €2 million (55%) on last year.

Limerick Animal Welfare and Limerick Feral Cats received €108,600 and €21,800, respectively.

The funding is being announced on what is the second Animal Welfare Awareness Day.

Limerick Animal Welfare (LAW) described the day, which took place on December 8, as one to reflect on the importance of animal welfare in this country.

“Only by working together with the Department of Agriculture and local authorities, can we be the voices for so many abused and neglected animals and make sure abuse of our precious animals is not tolerated in this country,” they said.

Limerick Animal Welfare (LAW) is a registered charity, founded in 1983, dedicated to caring for abandoned and neglected animals in the Limerick area.

They have costs of more than €60,000 per month and rely on the benevolence of the Limerick people and the tireless work of volunteers.

"It takes constant fundraising to rescue and care for the countless animals that come to us every year, and every single day volunteers work tirelessly to ensure we continue to receive the funding that is vital to our work,” they said.

LAW also rely heavily on volunteers to aid in fundraising and in the day-to-day running of the Animal Sanctuary in Kilfinane, Limerick and to staff their two charity shops in Limerick city.

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Limerick Feral Cats is a small group of cat-loving volunteers, dedicated to improving the lives of feral cats in Limerick city and county.

“We do this primarily by neutering and returning the cats. We also provide food and shelter for feral cats that have no one to look out for them,” they explained.

Last year, Limerick Feral Cats received an ex-gratia payment of €10,000 from the Department for 2021.

“This allowed us to run our low-cost neutering campaign for pet cats in January. It also helps care for our neutered, monitored colonies that have no one else to feed them,” they added.

Limerick Feral Cats described this year’s announcement of funding of €21,800 as a “relief” saying that the charity can now “keep going" following a doubling of last year's amount.

“We never take the funding from DAFM for granted, and we work hard to make sure we cut our cloth according to our measure. We work within a very small budget and spend carefully,” they outlined.

On this bitterly cold December morning, thoughts turn to our feline friends coping in this very hard weather, they said, on December 8, while busy neutering, providing food in some cases, and shelter from the cold for wild cats in the county.

“But there are so many more cats needing our urgent help. Now we have the breathing space to help more, as we'll make our funds stretch that bit further. And more than that we will redouble our trap, neuter and return (TNR) efforts, so that fewer kittens will be born next spring to suffer a cruel winter in 2023,” they added.

Following the announcement, Brian Leddin TD said: “I would urge people looking to get a new pet around this time of the year to consider rehoming animals from Limerick Animal Welfare rather than buying.”