Owner found guilty of abandoning pony

12 June 2001

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Leigh Lawrence, 40, of Slough, Bucks has been found guilty at Lyndhurst Magistrates Court of abandoning a Shetland pony with deformities in a manner likely to cause it unnecessary suffering contrary to the 1960 Abandonment of Animals Act.

Mr Lawrence was ordered to pay £540 costs to the ILPH (International League for the Protection of Horses) and £150 costs to the court.

Following a call to the ILPH from the Verderers¨ Office in the New Forest in September last year, Dave Guy, ILPH Field Officer picked up the young stallion and took it to Cherry Tree Farm, the ILPH Recovery and Rehabilitation Centre, near Lingfield, Surrey.

¨This prosecution was brought about by good co-operation between the ILPH, Hampshire Police Equine Liaison Officers and Hampshire Trading Standards,¨ said Dave Guy.

On the advice of two vets the pony, which was badly deformed, was put down.

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