For Faye personally, this story is particularly distressing because she was working for a registered charity on East Moor in 2011 when the same situation was occurring. She and her friend (and p4p volunteer) Gill spent many hours on East Moor surveying ponies. They found 5 pony skeletons and ponies in very emaciated condition - getting the authorities to do anything was a nightmare...but with the help of the media enough public attention was gained that a huge rescue was undertaken by the authorities. Defra surveyed all the ponies on the moor and Redwings gave sanctuary to all those in poor condition - about 20 ponies in all. Cilla blogged about the situation on the p4p blog back in 2011 http://people4ponies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/httpwww.html
After the rescue in 2011, Defra promised to do regular surveys of the moors to ensure ponies in poor condition were removed, and they wrote to all farmers with ponies on Bodmin Moor explaining body condition scoring. What happened in 2011 should have been a wake up call...BUT now this situation has arisen again...on exactly the same small, enclosed area of moorland...except this time no-one appears to have been monitoring or surveying ponies for things to have reached this state - the animals suffered and died...and no-one will take responsibility or be prosecuted for it.
Now the Commoners on Bodmin claim the answer to the problem is to hot brand the ponies on the Moor because they don't know who owns what! What many people don't realise is that Bodmin Moor does not have a derogation - all the ponies should be microchipped but Defra doesn't enforce the law. Hot branding is highly ineffective as a means of identification - brands are usually completely invisible in the winter months, sometimes ponies have to be shaved to try to find a visible brand in a summer coat. Even when ponies have visible brands, owners of emaciated animals deny ownership...and prosecuting authorities say that a brand isn't proof of ownership. Our 2 ponies from Bodmin Moor are classic examples of this - Topsy and Tufty had ear notches and hot brands - they were seized from Bodmin Moor in emaciated condition. That was 14 years ago and the situation on Bodmin Moor obviously hasn't improved since then! No prosecution was brought as their owner could not be traced! Topsy and Tufty's brands are only visible for a few months in the summer.
Microchipping is a permanent, reliable method of identification. Commoners will claim they can't get close to a pony to scan for a microchip...but if you can get close enough to hot brand it, ear notch it, or shoot it, then you can get close enough to scan it for a microchip. The majority of these ponies will end up as meat - and for that to happen legally, they must be microchipped. Bodmin farmers who bring their wild ponies to market each autumn have their animals microchipped just before the sale. They know that the market will scan the unhandled animals at the sale to make sure they are microchipped and passported. If they are not, they are withdrawn from the sale by the auctioneers, and the owners reported to Defra/Trading Standards.
As Julie Dowton from the Commoners' Council states in the Daily Mail article "The long winter has meant farmers have had to spend more on feeding their animals, but added that there was "no excuse" for letting them starve".
Daily Mail article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309499/Dozens-ponies-Bodmin-Moor-starve-death-freezing-spring-weather-dumped-cruel-owners.html
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| Hot brand on a Dartmoor Hill Pony at least 1 week after the branding occurred |
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| Topsy's brand not visible in her winter coat |
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| Tufty's brand is not visible either! |
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