More than 200,000 people have signed a petition hoping to save the Dartmoor hill pony, as “heartfelt pledges to protect them are yet to be translated into action”.
But campaigners fear that culls will be the outcome of new Government contracts.
“The future of Dartmoor’s endangered hill ponies, currently numbering just under 1,000, still hangs in the balance,” a Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony spokesperson said.
“Despite concerns being voiced by several political parties following unprecedented media coverage of the campaign last week, those heartfelt pledges to protect the ponies are yet to be translated into action.”
The campaigners are calling on Sir Keir Starmer to act before he leaves office, “warning that the opportunity to secure protection for the ponies is slipping away”.
The Friends charity said no changes have been made to Natural England’s new countryside stewardship agri-environment contracts. This means that when the higher level stewardship (HLS) schemes come to an end from this summer, Dartmoor commoners will have to reduce overall livestock grazing densities by up to 89%, to be eligible for tier 3 funding.
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“With ponies now pulled into those overall quotas, competing alongside more commercially viable cattle and sheep for a right to stand on Dartmoor, their future looks bleak,” the spokesperson said.
MPs back calls to save the Dartmoor hill pony
Labour MPs Steve Race (Exeter) and Luke Pollard (Plymouth) are among those backing the campaign.
“It’s not good enough for Natural England to say ‘we’re not ordering a cull’, but on the other hand their policies would lead to that outcome,” Mr Race said. “The problem here is the lack of clarity from Natural England.”
Keir Starmer said the Government “will not support a cull”, and Natural England said it is “not recommending one”.
“Natural England asserts that it values the vital role that ponies play in biodiversity recovery on Dartmoor, and has sought to reassure with promises of native breeds supplements available to farmers to incentivise keeping ponies,” the Friends spokesperson said.
“However, what it has omitted to mention is that these supplements would only be available after the overall massive reductions in numbers have taken place.”
The new grazing contracts were to have been negotiated after the Dartmoor land use management group makes its report, on how to implement the Defra-commissioned Dartmoor review, next year. Section 27 of that review said ponies and cattle or sheep should not be linked in calculations of stocking limits, and urged Natural England to avoid actions that would be likely to result in a decline in pony numbers on the moor.
The Friends, and the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association (DHPA), are “calling for the well-intentioned words of ministers to be urgently translated into action to protect Dartmoor’s remaining semi-wild pony herds”.
Task force
They want Defra to direct Natural England to implement recommendation 27 of the review, and for a task force to be assembled to determine how this should be achieved.
DHPA secretary Joss Hibb said: “The clock is ticking for Dartmoor’s remaining hill pony herds. As some existing HLS grazing contracts come to an end in the coming weeks, farming families will soon be faced with the devastating prospect of irreversibly removing the vast majority of their pony herds that they have kept for generations.”
Dartmoor hill ponies eat molinia, an invasive, dominant grass species that decreases the moor’s biodiversity. This grass is dry and flammable; a wildfire on Dartmoor last May destroyed over 1,200 acres of moorland. The campaigners cited this as another way the ponies protect rather than harm their environment.
The Friends’ Charlotte Faulkner said: “All we want is the right animal to stand in the place it has adapted to over thousands of years. Dartmoor’s semi-wild hill ponies are already endangered and further reductions in their numbers will lead to their genetic collapse.
“They are an iconic part of a traditional farming culture but they are also a vital tool in overcoming the modern challenges that we face: biodiversity decline and climate change. The ponies, in sufficient numbers, are a crucial part of the solution to these challenges, and must be recognised and protected as such.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
