David Hamilton has come under fire from the public following a BBC documentary
THE OWNER OF the Clabby puppy breeding business targeted by a fire which killed 13 dogs in the past week has been told he will “burn in hell” by angry animal rights activists.
Furnish Kennels, a third generation business, with around 500 dogs, run by brothers David and Jonathan Hamilton, has been targeted over the past week following a TV documentary aired last Wednesday evening.
The show featured the kennels, with conditions described as ‘appalling’ and ‘barbaric’. Since ‘The Dog Factory’ aired the family business has been the victim of death threats, a bomb threat and on Saturday evening a suspected arson attack, which ended in the loss of life of 13 Yorkshire terriers; seven adult and six puppies.
Speaking to the Herald, David Hamilton has refuted allegations made about the business in the documentary: “It is absolutely, completely inaccurate. People have to listen to the authorities on this. We have been called a puppy farm for days and weeks now. We operate a licenced dog breeding establishment and the standards in our kennels are very high and I would say they are as high as anywhere in Northern Ireland and people need to just take a step back and say to themselves can you believe what you see on TV?
“It doesn’t matter what kennels you go into in Northern Ireland, if you go in at night and stick a camera around dog’s faces they will make a lot of noise, you play a pile of eerie music you can paint a picture and that picture may not be accurate, you may get the wrong impression.”
On Friday police received a call that two items had been left at the lane to the kennels and the Clabby Road was closed for a time. The devices were later found to be ‘nothing untoward’, but Mr Hamilton explained a placard accompanied the device with reference to the Real IRA.
“It said something like ‘Sleep well, we have got our eye on you. Real IRA.”
The following evening a fire at a shed on the premises claimed the lives of 13 animals in total. Police believed the incident, reported at 8.15pm, is linked to the alert the previous day. Mr Hamilton told the Herald the fire was started outside the shed before catching the building, ‘gutting’ the shed and burning the animals alive.
He believed it was deliberate and called on the perpetrators leave him and his family alone.
“They’re saying they know where I live and I need my throat slit and I’ve had people praying I have a car accident and just lots of people saying I should burn in hell.”
Following the TV documentary council animal welfare officers and dog control officers carried out an unannounced joint inspection at the kennels. Findings from the inspection will be presented to the Council’s Environmental Services Committee on May 6 2015.
At a committee meeting last week chief executive Brendan Hegarty indicated that when inspections had been carried out in the past it was “absolutely perfect”.
Thousands back calls to close farm on facebook
IN RESPONSE to a TV documentary aired last week, featuring Clabby dog breeding company ‘Furnish Kennels’ there has been an outpouring of opposition on social media.
The Facebook group ‘Close down Furnish Kennels’ puppy farm Fivemiletown’ has now amassed almost 10,000 likes (9,914) while a petition calling for the kennels to be closed has over 11,000 signatures (11,415).
The founder of the Facebook, a woman from Fermanagh, explained that she disagreed with the mass production of pups.
“Dogs and cats even are domesticated pets. They’re being kept like battery hens which to me isn’t right.”
She told the Herald the page and petition have so far had a reach of almost a quarter of a million people and there are plans to host a peaceful protest outside Enniskillen Town Hall later in the week.
It is the group’s hope that they can change the law and prevent the breeding of dogs on such a large scale.
As for the fire and death threats she was quick to condemn the behaviour.
David Hamilton, who runs Furnish Kennels with his brother Jonathan explained that comments on this site have drawn the attention of the police. “What I would say if I believed any of the things on there were true I’d like it and I’d sign the petition too. They’re not true and that’s what people need to remember.”
“We have potential threats to life, threats to property, we have animals dead and they should be very careful not to inflame this situation. We have a due process, we have elected representatives, we have laws.
“None of those laws have been broken except by the people who started this fire, the people who were involved in the bomb scare. All the crimes are not being committed by us, but by others and those people should be very careful with what they’re doing.”
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