{"id":1141586,"date":"2026-08-10T12:59:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1141586\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:59:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:59:48","slug":"andrew-muir-reveals-threat-to-shoot-him-following-controversial-cattle-cull-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1141586\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Muir reveals threat to shoot him following controversial cattle cull \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir says he has received a threat that he will be shot following controversy over the culling of 51 cattle in Co Tyrone.<\/p>\n

During an emergency meeting of Stormont\u2019s<\/a> Agriculture Committee on Monday, the minister was told that he had \u201clost all credibility\u201d and that his department had presided over an \u201canimal welfare scandal\u201d after the livestock were shot in fields.<\/p>\n

The minister urged MLAs to temper their language after the committee heard a claim that the public believes that there had been a \u201cshoot to kill\u201d approach over the animals.<\/p>\n

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs\u2019<\/a> (Daera) Humane Slaughter Team carried out the cull of the cattle on land near Fivemiletown in June.<\/p>\n

\"Catholic<\/a>\"Michelle<\/a><\/p>\n

Concerns have been raised by some political representatives and farmers about the public nature of the incident and Mr Muir has ordered an external review of the circumstances.<\/p>\n

While he appeared before the committee, scores of farmers held a protest outside Parliament Buildings in Stormont.<\/p>\n

The cull took place following a court order requiring the department to act after a man was convicted of a number of offences<\/a> and disqualified for life from keeping animals.<\/p>\n

The minister has previously said there was \u201cno reasonable alternative\u201d but to comply with the court order by culling the animals on the site.<\/p>\n

Mr Muir told the committee that animals had been \u201cessentially starving to death\u201d on the farm.<\/p>\n

He told MLAs: \u201cThe case arose from numerous welfare inspections carried out by Daera staff between January 20 2022 and January 30 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring these inspections, conditions on the farm were very poor. The photos published included that of emaciated animals (and) shall never leave my mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation on this farm that led to the prosecutions was, frankly, grotesque.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister said limited animal feed on the site was \u201ccontaminated with urine and dung\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cA large number of animals were caused unnecessary suffering. Approximately 33 animal carcasses and animal bones were found.<\/p>\n

\"PressFarmers protest at Stormont.
\nPress Eye – Northern Ireland (mail@presseye.com) <\/p>\n

\u201cThe individual was rightly disqualified for life from keeping, owning and participating in the keeping of animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister said he appreciated \u201cgenuine and legitimate\u201d concerns expressed by members of the public over the operation to cull the animals.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI must address the very real impact of some of the misleading and inaccurate reporting and commentary that has surrounded this case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wave of misogynistic, sectarian and homophobic hate, threats and intimidation against both officials and myself is despicable and deeply concerning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that I have now received a death threat is nothing short of a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe fact that I have had to discuss this with the police and also officials are having to consider security measures and personal safety is unacceptable and seriously troubling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe misogynistic, sectarian and homophobic abuse does not reflect the majority of farmers who are respectful and kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DUPDUP deputy leader Michelle McIlveen appeared at the committee on Monday (Brian Lawless\/PA) <\/p>\n

DUP deputy leader Michelle McIlveen said: \u201cAs a consequence of this operation, your department has lost all credibility in the eyes of the public where animal welfare is concerned, and that is really concerning to me and should be concerning to you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is anger right across the farming community, and the anger is coming from decent, hardworking farmers who are just trying to make a living from the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened appears to be brutal, appears to be inhumane, and ironically, what was meant to be an animal welfare intervention has become an animal welfare scandal at the hands of the department, and that\u2019s totally regrettable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms McIlveen asked the minister how he would \u201cretain and renew\u201d confidence in his department.<\/p>\n

Mr Muir said he recognised it was a \u201csensitive and a deeply distressing case\u201d and said concerns raised would be examined in the independent review.”<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI think we all have a role in political<\/a> life for leadership, in facts and understanding that we need to give time and space for the review to do its work, and for that review to be full and thorough, and for them to then fully examine the findings and recommendations arising from this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be really, really clear that this case has been really, really difficult, both for me and for officials in the department, because the animal welfare prosecution that led to the deprivation order were grotesque scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had carcasses piled up in the farm. We had animal bones lying around. We had emaciated animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to reassure everyone that the professional judgement of officials in my department was very much that this was a last resort.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were very distressed in terms of having to go there in regard to this, and also very distressing some of the commentaries subsequent to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms McIlveen said: \u201cFrom the public\u2019s view, the primary focus didn\u2019t appear to be about the welfare of animals; that it seemed to be rather than a nurture approach, that it was basically a shoot-to-kill approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Muir said: \u201cI would urge calm and people to temper their language around this, because I\u2019ve received threats and that someone wants me shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we just need to lower the tone in this. We have a responsibility in our language.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir says he has received a threat that he will be shot following controversy over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1141587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[3971,23670,24408,80196,39437,23668,310494,310495,23248,1144,11191,16,7913,15],"class_list":["post-1141586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-agriculture","tag-andrew-muir","tag-animal-welfare","tag-co-tyrone","tag-daera","tag-department-of-agriculture","tag-environment-and-rural-affairs","tag-fivemiletown","tag-michelle-mcilveen","tag-northern-ireland","tag-stormont","tag-uk","tag-ulster","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117071345793152594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1141587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}