Thursday 11 October 2012

Dartmoor hill ponies numbers 'drop to 850'


The number of Dartmoor hill ponies has plummeted from about 30,000 in the 1950s to about 850 now, according to conservationists.
Ponies are sold every year as pets and for grazing.
Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony (FDLP) said the recession, high hay prices and tougher horse transport regulation were putting off buyers.
As a result, farmers were keeping far fewer mares than stallions and numbers on the moor were dropping.
Charlotte Faulkner of FDLP said numbers had dropped from about 3,000 16 years ago to 1,500 five years ago.
"Hay prices are astronomical and people just don't have the money to invest in what we're producing," she said.

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