Respone to Devon & Cornwall Police's Conclussion into Death of Dartmoor Foal

South West Equine Protection would like to release a response to Devon and Cornwall Police’s press release on 21/08/2013 regarding to the mutilated foal found on Yennadon Down in July 2013.

SWEP stand by our belief that some of the injuries found on the foal’s body were not inflicted by wild animals, birds or invertebrates as has been concluded by Devon and Cornwall police. SWEP’s welfare team is made up of highly qualified individuals who have extensive knowledge and expertise in feral pony behaviour, moorland ecology, habitat management, taxonomy (mammal, plant and invertebrate), ethobotany, veterinary nursing, biological investigation and experimentation experience. They have dealt with many cases of dead ponies; these ponies have been of various ages and have died of many different causes. These bodies have been in different states of decomposition, some have been noticeably eaten by carrion eating predators.

After extensive evaluation of the scene and body our Welfare Assistant kept coming back to the conclusion that some things did not add up and it looked suspicious. After discussing the findings with her manager it was decided to report it to the police, we stand by this decision and if we are to ever be called out to a similar finding we will again report it to the relevant authorities.

The police came to their conclusion by looking at photographs provided by SWEP and not by any form of autopsy or examination of the foal’s body, no police officer saw the body until it had been moved into a nearby gorse two days after the initial report. We feel that they cannot come to a definitive conclusion by looking at photographs alone. One thing we can agree on is that we will never know how the foal died or whether the injuries occurred whilst the foal was dead or alive. We hope we are never called out to another case such. We would hope in future such matters and handled much more swiftly by the police than was the case in late July. We feel this would put the Police in a better position to come to a definitive answer as to whom or what may have caused the injuries to the foal.