Social media helps locate abused horse

Social media has come to the rescue of an abused horse, after police appealed on networking sites to the public to help locate it.

Dorset police called for witnesses through Facebook and Twitter after reports that a horse was tied to the back of a vehicle, dragged along and beaten by two men with a rope when it fell. The incident happened on 2 April in Bridport.

Thanks to a “phenomenal response”, the horse and the perpetrators were found less than 12 hours later.

The Facebook post was seen by 15,760 people. Many helped spread news of the incident by sharing the statement released by the police on the Bridport, Beaminster and Lyme Regis Safer Neighbourhood Teams’ page on 3 April.

PC Scott McGregor posted the appeal initially on Facebook, then circulated the link on his @BridPoliceSNT Twitter timeline to 996 followers, where it was retweeted.

“Animal-related stories always touch a nerve and so it was no surprise to me that this had such a quick result,” PC McGregor told H&H. “Within 8-10hr we had identified several lines of enquiry. From our point of view, it gets people talking and shows people that the community is watching.”

The RSPCA told H&H that inspectors have seen the horse since it was found and confirmed that it was uninjured. They were told that the horse “was being taken to its new owners when it was being seen dragged and hit”.

“The new owners we have met say they are not the ones seen hitting the horse,” said an RSPCA spokesman. “They had made arrangements for their vet to visit and health-check the pony.”

“It was clearly a horrible incident and a horrific way to treat an animal,” she added. “We are unable to take further action at this time as the witnesses we had unfortunately weren’t happy to be involved further.”

Martha Terry

H&H features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on dogs of all shapes and sizes. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs, one a street dog from Gambia who was abandoned at three weeks old. Now, her constant companion, whether by her feet at her desk or walking cross-country courses, is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.