Third Emaciated Dartmoor Hill Pony found at Chubb Tor

On the same day we rescued Hope, on the same area of moorland, our Welfare Officer discovered this third mare in poor condition (in worse condition than Hope) who had a newborn foal. Our Officer informed Defra and the RSPCA. The RSPCA spoke to the owner who said that he had not seen this mare for 2.5 years! The RSPCA said to our Officer that the owner is "Doing the best that he can".

We believe this is totally unacceptable. Our own officer is able to locate these ponies on the moorland and in this particular case the ponies are on a small, enclosed common. There are pony keepers on the moor who we are never called to for welfare cases because they are responsible and do ensure the welfare of their animals in a semi-feral environment.

On Monday the 16th, our Welfare Officer found that the owner had removed this mare and foal from the moor. We asked the RSPCA officer if he would check on the pony. He informed us that as an RSPCA Officer he has no more powers than we do, and that the farmer would prevent him from coming onto his land. We expressed concern that the mare will not have enough milk for the foal, and we were told to inform Defra and they might be able to access the farm to check on the pony.

We informed Defra of the case by email. We received a phone message to say that Defra had received the information but they wouldn’t be able to tell us if they were going to visit the pony, or whether they would take any action or not because all the information was classified under the Data Protection Act.  So, disappointingly we have no information as to whether the pony was checked on, or received care or not.