Pony charity comes up with plan to save the species: Eat them

Founder Charlotte Faulkner believes herders will only continue to keep the animals if there is a ‘sustainable market’ for them.

17:53 25 September 2014

Dartmoor Hill Pony Association, a charity dedicated to protecting ponies, has “reluctantly” suggested to save the species by eating them. The suggestion sparked outrage among some animal loving members of the public.

South West Equine Protection (SWEP) reacted with fury, saying it would never support the breeding of animals for profit.

The charity’s welfare officer Becky Treeby said: “It would be very upsetting to look at foals, which in six months time could be in someone’s burger.”

However, founder Charlotte Faulkner said she believes that herders will only continue to keep the animals if there is a “sustainable market” for them.

Dartmoor ponies are essential to the ecology of the 368 square mile national park in Devon. From the 1930s, their numbers dropped from 25,000 to just 800 today.

In a letter proposing the idea sent to SWEP, she said: “I am writing to ask whether SWEP would consider giving measured support to this understandably upsetting subject, which as pony lovers we find so hard to accept.

“It has taken years of considering reports and listening to the outcome of meetings to recognise and reluctantly accept that Dartmoor pony herders will only carry on keeping their herds if they have a sustainable market for them.

"We are in real danger of ponies disappearing from Dartmoor altogether.”