Shock as 700 Dartmoor ponies shot and sent to zoos as food for animals
More than 700 unwanted Dartmoor hill ponies have been shot on farms this year, with their carcasses being sent to zoos to feed the animals.
The market price for the animals has nose-dived, leaving hard-pressed owners feeling they have no other option but to have the healthy animals put down.
Knackerman Andrew Goatman, told the Western Morning News that 700 ponies, ranging from foals to four-year-olds, have been shot this year.
"For those that can't be sold it's kinder to shoot them rather than risk them being dumped or end up in someone's back garden as a welfare case," he said.
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The revelation has led to the start of a campaign on the moor to encourage farmers to breed fewer animals and avoid the need for them to later be euthanised. Charlotte Faulkner of the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association confirmed that a welfare disposal system has been put in place by the pony keepers to resolve the issue of ponies not having a market in this present climate.
"We had to react to the recession and this ensures that the ponies don't end up becoming welfare cases, which is what is happening in many other parts of the county," she said.
A Facebook page, Think Before You Breed, has been created to encourage farmers to cut down on the number of animals reared.
Organiser Charles Brenin said the problem stemmed from stallions being left on the moor all-year round.
"Farmers are left with the difficult decision of what to do with their foals and for which there is no market – common sense would dictate that if there is no market for your crop, you stop creating it," he said.
A spokesman for Equinetourism.co.uk, which promotes horse-based tourism in the region, said: "It's heartbreaking to hear."
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Comments
by sam, cumbria
Saturday, December 11 2010, 9:11PM
“i think that it is discusting and makes me sick!! is there any way we could help like give the ponys homes i would be happy to take lots of them and give them a happy life instead of bein treaten like that!! someone brings me 50 or even 100 of them id be happy to look after them and give them the life they need instead of being hurt”
by Vashti, UK
Tuesday, December 07 2010, 11:28AM
“I would have given a filly/mare a good home. I have a 16yr Arab mare, that we broke-in ourselves. As an ex Vet. nurse, she would would have a good home, company for my mare, and my daughter could have her own and be able to accompany me on hacks. I was unaware of this quantity of surplus stock. What a waste when there's good homes out there, that are, ok, held back by going out to specially buy a pony, but could manage to keep an extra mouth if it was was cheaper and available, giving pleasure to my daughter and survival to the animal, in a home where love could be shared by all parties. I'm sure there are many other people in my situation, who had they known these ponies were going to feed carnivores in parks and zoos, would have given a central contact a shout and taken one in. Pity they didn't organise letting the general public know this was happening, so homes could be vetted by local area people and these, or at least some of them, could have been saved. Life is precious, and we owe alot to these equines who, without their long relationship with humans, we would not not have had the labour and transport they provided us with, before science started to ruin everything.”
by CHAOS, HELLS KITCHEN
Monday, December 06 2010, 4:11AM
“CAN I ASK GIVEN THE CHANCE WOULD YOU PREFER A SLOW DEATH BY STARVATION OR A QUICK DEATH BY WHATEVER METHOD THEY USED HUMAN OR ANIMAL NOTHING DESERVES A SLOW LINGERING PAINFUL DEATH, SO YES IT MAY SEEM INHUMANE BUT IN THE LONG TERM THEIR SUFFERING WAS ENDED BEFORE IT BEGAN...”
by johnno, pennycomequick
Saturday, December 04 2010, 1:24PM
“How can the people that pulled the trigger sleep at night ?? I know I wouldn't be able to”
by Katy, South hams
Friday, December 03 2010, 11:28PM
“That sounds very bitter Peter !!!
The stallions should be castrated like lower class men !!!
Now there's an idea !”
by Peter, present1
Friday, December 03 2010, 10:04PM
“why not shoot and feed the middle and upper classes to the lions?”
by Mick, Barbican
Friday, December 03 2010, 7:13PM
“Quote "pony carcasses being sent to zoos to feed the animals"
LION 1- "Oh no, not bleddy pony for dinner again!"
LION 2- "Cheer up, if you close your eyes it's passable as zebra"”
by Nick113, Devon
Friday, December 03 2010, 4:53PM
“These ponies do look nice when you come across them on the moor, but is it anymore "heartbreaking" than cattle being used for beef, or pigs being bred for bacon?”
by unclehairy, plymouth
Friday, December 03 2010, 4:14PM
“Could we do this with unwanted students too??”
by Mick, Barbican
Friday, December 03 2010, 2:40PM
“Looks like somebody's onto a nice little earner, breed 'em, shoot 'em and flog 'em..”