Beyond the clever PR Marketing, do you know what happens to ponies
from Dartmoor once they come off the moor?
Can you help us fill in some of the missing information?…They don’t all go
to good homes…these are some of the things we know happen and have happened…
The Guardian reported previously how the unborn foetuses are cut from the carcasses of adult mares as part of the processing.
£33,000 was raised for equipment for processing pony meat. Pandas are rare and kept in zoos, zebras are rare and kept in zoos but “Dartmoor Hill Ponies” are marketed by Dartmoor as rare (often quoted as only 1200 left) – and killed to feed other zoo animals rather than being valued as individuals themselves.
**SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH – An expose in 2016 showed that Dartmoor and Welsh ponies were used in experiments where pregnant mares gave birth and then their foals were involved in medical experiments. Cambridge University bought ponies direct from a farmer. The study was funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board. We have found this study: “https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259723375_Sex-associated_differences_in_pancreatic_b_cell_function_in_healthy_preweaning_pony_foals”.
We had an anonymous report of a shipment of ponies being sold from a farm on Dartmoor to Scotland for scientific research – FOIs did not find them in veterinary institutions. Does anyone have any more info or knowledge about ponies going for research purposes?
** THE FARMERS’ PONY MEAT SCHEME – Trying to convince the UK general public to eat horsemeat rather than stop the irresponsible breeding practices. Is “Preserving a pony” keeping it alive or preserving it in a freezer?! Do your own research about who is involved and whether you think it is ethical…
**DRUMS – marketed as being the “Symbol
of the ponies' voice...calling you to listen to their cry for support to help
them continue looking after Dartmoor". We
know that in 2013 Dartmoor Hill pony hides were being priced at £250
each.
**THE UNDERGROUND – This, we suspect, applies not just to ponies from Dartmoor but those from Bodmin too, and possibly beyond. Once you start asking questions and doing FOIs it becomes blatantly clear the numbers don’t add up…and sometimes the UK government or agencies won’t even answer basic questions. EVERY year there are still reports of lorries full of ponies going out of the country via Ireland and this year is no different. Before it was part of the Horse Meat Scandal, the dealers mysteriously disappearing from the markets once it was exposed. We also know that one dealer that used to be at the Bodmin market was stopped at Stranraer in Scotland and prosecuted and jailed for hiding £750,000 worth of drugs in between horses in his lorry destined to travel across the Irish Sea.
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| Photos from Equine Rescue France https://www.equinerescuefrance.org/2010/11/and-the-ugly-2/ |
People on Dartmoor and Bodmin will know what’s happening to this year’s ponies right now – seen lorries, heard the “word on the ground” – what have you heard? Last year a whole herd of Bodmin ponies disappeared overnight and the ponies could not be traced at all – not even to slaughterhouses in this country and no change of ownership ever applied for. It is common knowledge “they” know how to get out of the country completely unchecked. In 2010, 30 ponies from Dartmoor turned up at a market in Maurs, southern France (spotted by Equine Rescue France) in appalling condition and were bought by Italian dealers to be destined for the meat and skins market in Italy. Described as "dead on their feet" and most with eye infections and a couple of them lame – the dealer wanting 250 euros each for them. A rare unexpected glimpse of a stopping point. These ponies have consistently been exploited in what is most likely an underground trade linked to more serious crime – much bigger than me, you, or the ponies themselves and with no government agency or large organisation or Dartmoor agenda prepared to protect them, investigate, or enforce the very legislation that is there to protect them.
Ponies on Dartmoor are being bred and disposed of without
any regard to responsibility for the long term future of these ponies. The market and county fair hype is a PR
façade. People reported more foals being
bred this year than for a long time – I’d encourage everyone to keep your eyes
open and start asking more questions.
In 2010 (13/10/2010) a prominent figure of the DHPA featured on BBC
Radio 4s Farming today programme about the ponies on Dartmoor and stated
categorically that Hill ponies DO NOT go for meat but are sold as riding
ponies…by the December of the same year their story was blown out of the water
by the national press…whistleblown - the papers revealed how more than 700
ponies had been shot that year alone.
Not all farmers are bad. We are
here to expose what needs to be exposed and ask questions on behalf of the
ponies who suffer at the hands of people who would have us believe they are
custodians of a breed…and that the ponies ALL go to good homes…
Source information and links – please do research yourself:
** Zoo meat links:
·
Slaughter quote – from a whistleblower whose
identity we need to protect.
·
Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/dec/11/dartmoor-ponies-slaughter-zoo-feeding-lions
· 700 ponies https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/215394/Slaughter-of-the-Dartmoor-ponies
· Photos of the slaughter of ponies https://wildponiesinfo.blogspot.com/2011/01/disturbing-photographs-of-dartmoor-hill.html
·
£33,000 equipment https://www.dartmoorsociety.com/debates/2013_debate
· Numbers of ponies in existence: https://www.dartmoorhillponyassociation.co.uk/history/ At the moment there are approximately 1100 mares on the moor, producing around 900 foals per year
https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2020/04/title-231048-en.html#:~:text=Census%20data%20indicate%20that%20the,Carneddau%20Ponies%20left%20in%20Snowdonia. Census data indicate that the Dartmoor Hill Pony herd has declined from a high of 12,250 in the 1960s to 1,200 today.
https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/breaking-news/exposed-ex-racehorses-and-dartmoor-ponies-used-experiments Cambridge University had authorisation from
the Home Office to carry out cruel experiments on pregnant horses and their
unborn foals. Up to 150 horses over a 5-year period (until 2018) could be used.
The experiments could involve:
· - compressing umbilical cords or cutting umbilical
vessels during pregnancy so that unborn foals do not receive enough nutrients
· - surgically removing glands
· - injecting the animals with hormones or drugs
that affect growth and metabolism
** Drums
·
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428553/Dartmoor-ponies-culled-hides-drums-used-Druid-style-retreats.html .instead we are
supposed to think that a Dartmoor Hill Pony hide drum is a "Symbol of
the ponies' voice...calling you to listen to their cry for support to help them
continue looking after Dartmoor"...
·
£250 pony skin https://www.dartmoorsociety.com/debates/2013_debate
** Farmers Meat Scheme
· https://www.bigbarn.co.uk/producer/newton-abbot/dartmoor-conservation-meat-25400/
** The Underground
·
https://people4ponies.blogspot.com/2020/10/new-expose-whole-bodmin-herd-disappear.html
· https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34475718 - Dealer stopped and prosecuted
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20144305
·
www.people4ponies.co.uk/liveexports.html
·
https://www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consumer/brexit-forces-early-sale-dartmoor-16986056
- Admission that half of ponies head overseas
· Maurs market Equine Rescue France https://www.equinerescuefrance.org/2010/11/and-the-ugly-2/
· Numbers of ponies slaughtered in Ireland – via FOI
request. English FSA refused to answer
questions arguing data protection.
· Farming today quote https://wildponiesinfo.blogspot.com/2010/12/dartmoor-hill-pony-association.html
News Release 14th November 2021
•
Video reveals new buyer kicking young foal as it is loaded into trailer
– available on Facebook/Twitter
• Video reveals pony wrestled and dragged into lorry including
being lifted off the floor by its tail - breeching Welfare of Horses at
Market Act 1990.
• Welfare of Horses at Markets Act 1990 not adhered to with the majority
of animals left without water for the duration of the day.
• Devon Trading Standards have received People4ponies’ report and footage
from the sale and are investigating.
• Foals from as young as 4 months old for
sale • Highly stressed
animals crammed into overcrowded pens
• 330 wild animals sold in a day – with few people having the
experience to handle these animals, especially the adults – no home checking or
suitable facilities checked.
• Appeal for more information after anonymous report of two lorries
full of ponies headed to Ireland soon after the sale.
People4Ponies, a pony sanctuary
dedicated to helping wild and traumatised ponies, is calling for an end to the
"Chagford Drift Pony Sale", an annual auction of wild ponies taken
off Dartmoor. The call follows the 2021 auction that took place in October,
involving the sale of highly stressed and traumatised foals as young as four
months, taken away from their mothers and thrust into an unfamiliar and
frightening environment. Many of the ponies were in overcrowded pens, left for
hours in the full sun, most without food, and the majority without water with
only one seller out of the 20 listed having been seen to provide this.
People4Ponies has submitted a complaint (including video footage and report) to
Trading Standards, the UK government body responsible for monitoring and
investigating animal health and welfare of animals at markets.
The group also has concerns that no checks are carried out on the people
who buy the ponies to see if they are suitable for the responsibility of having
a pony. Footage taken of a teenage boy kicking a pony as the animal was loaded
onto a trailer raises serious questions regarding the fate of many of these
ponies.
The tourists who visit Dartmoor, are 'fed' the romantic and nostalgic picture
of the ponies roaming freely across the moor. This picture hides the stark
reality of what happens to the ponies: the extreme stress experienced by many
of these ponies at the auction, who only days before had been roaming freely on
Dartmoor. In the wild, foals can remain with their mothers until they are
around two years old, but most of those sold at the market were likely to have
been still suckling when they were taken away.
People4ponies is also very concerned about a report of 2 lorries of
ponies leaving for Ireland soon after the sale and they are appealing for more
information.
Spokesperson for People4Ponies, Faye Stacey stated:
’We are very concerned about an anonymous report of 2 lorries headed to
Ireland after the sale and we would appeal for more information—last year a
whole wild herd of Bodmin ponies disappeared and couldn’t be traced by the
authorities and a huge lorry was said to have also headed to Ireland.’
’The Welfare of Horses at Markets Act 1990 is supposed to
protect the ponies for sale. Ensuring they are prevented from suffering
thirst, not kept in overcrowded pens (there were 29 ponies in one of the pens)
and that they are not to be lifted off the ground or dragged by the head, neck,
ear, leg or tail. The need for water in particular is greater when the
individuals are in a highly stressful situation, as is the case at this Sale.
The market authority is required to ensure that an adequate supply of wholesome
water is available for horses and that adequate facilities in the form of
troughs, drinking bowls, buckets or other drinking devices are available for
watering horses. Sadly no-one was seen to enforce these regulations on
the day.’
’Literally anyone can buy a wild pony at a market – whether
they have any relevant knowledge, experience or not. It takes very
specialist skills to handle wild ponies, particularly the adults who will not
only be wild but will have been through unsympathetic handling and hot
branding. The average horse owner or riding school does not teach the
specialist skills and knowledge needed to tame these animals. To put
things into perspective the biggest charity in the country rehomes 300 horses
in a year after receiving training – here in the region of 330 wild horses were
sold in a day. Whilst some will have found good homes I worry about the
future of ponies such as the one captured in the footage being kicked by its
new owner.’
Notes:
- For further information, please contact: Faye Stacey, People4Ponies: Tel
07968 071179 Email: people4ponies@yahoo.co.uk
- High resolution photographs and video footage available. Video is
already available on www.facebook.com/People4ponies
or can be sent by WeTransfer
- The Welfare of Horses at Markets Act 1990 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1990/2627/article/2/made
- Number of horses rehomed by World Horse Welfare:
https://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/rehome
- Illegality of Ponies being Exported:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/export-horses-and-ponies-special-rules
All ponies, whether registered (“pure-bred” ponies) or unregistered
(ponies such as Dartmoor Hill ponies with no pedigree), are supposed to be
legally protected under the Minimum Value Legislation to prevent them from
being exported from Britain to Ireland or Europe for slaughter. For any pony
under 14.2 hands high to be transported to Ireland or Europe they must have
documentation, which includes proof of their value of £300 for a pony between
12-14.2hh, £220 for a pony up to 12hh and £145 for Shetlands up to 10.2hh. An
export license is required, and a fitness to travel or health certificate
signed by a vet has to be included. If unregistered ponies are being travelled
to Europe then a Journey Log is also required which includes details of the
transit, stopping areas so that legal journey times are not exceeded, and a vet
is supposed to check the animals on departure and on arrival - but any pony
being travelled has to meet the minimum value requirements. There are now
new regulations that require more prechecks such as blood tests and quarantine
periods before horses can be transported.
To send a message or ask a question, please click on the 'comments' link below
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| Some of the missing East Moor population Including heavily pregnant mares and newborn foals |
For years we have campaigned for the ponies on East Moor on
Bodmin Moor – fighting for laws to be enforced on a small area of land with
arguably the worst welfare record in the country.
With at least 3/4 of the 2020 pony population without passports and microchips any sale of these ponies would have been illegal, movement of animals without identification is illegal – as would any slaughtering for human consumption for those already over 6 months old.
Over the years non enforcement of breaches of the Animal Welfare Act, transport regulations, microchipping/passporting laws and the Bodmin Commoners Act have effectively rendered the laws useless. Yet again the East Moor ponies have suffered – at least ponies 80 ponies crammed into a lorry would have been terrifying – it is illegal.
What's worse is that Trading Standards seem (from their statement) to have known that something was planned to happen but did not ensure any enforcement. "We gave further formal advice to the farmer’s family on the welfare and identification requirements relating to the clearance and subsequent transportation of the ponies off the moor". “We are aware of the allegations relating to the transport of the ponies in question and have asked for evidence to be provided so that an investigation can take place. “We have not been provided with such evidence to allow us to take the matter any further".
It’s
about time people started asking questions and started talking about what
happens to our UK pony populations under the cover of darkness…
It’s NOT ok that lorries disappear into the darkness at 2am laden with ponies with no paperwork.
It’s NOT ok that people are too afraid to talk about it.
It’s NOT ok that we turn a blind eye to suffering and illegality and that there is never anyone prosecuted or held to account.
It's NOT ok the laws there to protect the ponies are not enforced and those who are supposed to enforce the laws are not held to account either.
It’s NOT ok that other authorities suspect the ponies went abroad but there’s nothing they can do to stop them.
It’s NOT ok that it is suspected this kind of activity is linked to the drugs trade or money laundering but there’s not enough evidence to pursue it because lorries are NEVER stopped.
It's NOT ok that owners are never held to account - for welfare neglect or other suspected legal activity.
What has happened is illegal
What is happening is illegal.
With no Bodmin pony sale this year I have asked the Bodmin Commoners Council what is happening to the ponies this autumn, what assurances are there that it is happening legally and what guarantees are there that there isn’t going to be a repeat performance of what has happened on East Moor on Bodmin. I have not yet received an answer to these questions but we have noted ponies already gone from some areas within the last two weeks so it is important these questions are asked.
In 2016 we publicised the mass deaths of 23 ponies from neglect/starvation on East Moor and many more in need of help and this resulted in large scale intervention with 2 round-ups with at least 42 ponies being seized in emaciated condition…No one was ever brought to account. Large scale welfare crises had taken place before in previous years too - and no-one was ever brought to account then either.
A massive third round-up in 2016 on East Moor by the big charities drastically reduced numbers and the ID of ponies through microchipping was
hailed a great success…BUT…stallions and colts were turned back out with
mares…and since then with no round ups or maintenance, breeding was allowed to
happen indiscriminately.
This year numbers were up to nearly 100 ponies and the
conditions on East Moor returned to hostile and totally unmanaged with
emaciated ponies by the summer.
The microchipping project was supposed to allow owners to be accountable for welfare neglect. What happened when a known to be microchipped stallion in appalling condition was seized and removed from the moor in 2020? No action was taken to hold an owner to account.
We were told the authorities in Cornwall were working towards a solution with the owner of the ponies. If the removal of a whole population in this fashion this is their idea of achieving a solution when they are supposed to be ensuring laws are upheld then I despair. We subsequently found out the other 20 ponies were taken from the moor reportedly a week before the 80 were taken.
Hindsight has shown us that ponies disappearing in this
fashion often endured the most appalling journey shipped abroad (for which all
sorts of paperwork and journey logs are supposed to be required but doesn’t
happen and goes unchecked – more laws that fall by the wayside!...And remember
the horse meat scandal?).
I have been personally promised 3 times by 2 different Lords of Defra that atrocities would not happen on this moor again…(twice those promises failed and we kept going)... We’ve campaigned so hard through incredibly difficult conditions on multiple occasions, helped contribute the new laws that were introduced in the Bodmin Commoners Act to run alongside the Animal Welfare Act, ID legislation and transport regulations. We even conducted our own research into why such high proportions of the pony populations die. East Moor typifies all that’s wrong with the animal welfare justice system right now.
I NEVER want to see any ponies turned out on East Moor EVER AGAIN – it and the people who are supposed to oversee it have consistently killed more animals and allowed them to go through more unnecessary suffering than any other area of land I know.
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