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Viva!
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9 October 2001
Viva! calls on the Tourist Industry to take action to stop farmers from breeding Dartmoor ponies. Hundreds of foals may be culled in Dartmoor within weeks because foot and mouth restrictions could prevent farmers from moving ponies to market to be sold. The animal organisation Viva! has launched a campaign to stop the cull and to end the annual killing of Dartmoor foals. The organisation points out that hundreds of moorland ponies are killed every year as their destiny at markets is often slaughter. Ponies are bred and killed for pet food or the continental dinner plate. Kat Macmillan, Viva! campaigner says, “To the ponies it makes no difference if they are culled for foot and mouth or killed for their meat. Farmers must stop breeding unwanted foals. Foot and mouth is just an excuse. These foals were conceived before the outbreak of the disease. Dartmoor is a place of cruelty and this cannot go on. Wild ponies have had virtually no value for a long time so farmers should have stopped breeding them years ago. Instead, foals are being born to be shot.” Farmers claim that they allow ponies to reproduce as it brings in tourism which Dartmoor heavily relies on. The pony is a symbol of the National Park. Ms Macmillan continues, “Mares having their foals torn away from them only to be shot - what way is this to treat the region’s symbol? The public must be made aware of the misery on Dartmoor and the truth behind the idyllic picture of mares and foals. Viva! calls on the tourist industry to put pressure on the farmers to stop the indiscriminate breeding of ponies. Viva! will not sit back and watch foals being killed year after year. The tourist industry has already suffered through livestock farmers and this killing cannot go on.” Viva! has undercover photographs of horses being slaughtered for meat. One photo shows a horse hanging upside down with her throat slit and another horse with his legs sawn off. The animal rights organisation also has pictures of ponies and foals in markets, terrified and destined for slaughter. This year, about 1,000 foals have been born on Dartmoor. They could all be destroyed. Many mares are already carrying next years foals who could also be killed unless action is taken now. Viva! is calling on tourists to boycott
Dartmoor if breeding ponies for slaughter continues.
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