Following a New York Times report on the tens of thousands of horses and ponies abandoned in Ireland the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has been receiving donations from the United States.

The New York Times article, on December 20th, described the ponies and horse that “have been abandoned amid Ireland’s financial nightmare”.

Orla Aungier of the DSPCA said the donations which were arriving from the U.S. were “very badly needed”. She told the Irish Times “There is nothing significant as yet but the report seems to have caught the public attention and people there seem willing to help.”

She continued “All I can tell you is we have 1,500 to 2,000 surplus horses here in Dublin and we are working flat out to do what we can for them.”

The article focused on the main locations where the abandoned horses are being dumped. They called Dunsink tip outside Dublin “a place that wounds the heart” in a country that is famous for their love of horses.

Joe Collins, president of the Veterinary Council of Ireland, estimates that there are between 10,000 and 20,000 abandoned horses across Ireland. The article continued “Another leading expert on horses, Ted Walsh, the father of one of the country’s most famous steeplechase jockeys, Ruby Walsh, has said that the number could be as high as 100,000.”