There are growing concerns that Dartmoor’s wild ponies are at risk of extinction due to the Government’s new eco-rules.
For more than 3,500 years semi-wild ponies have roamed the moors across Dartmoor in Devon. However, in the past 70 years their numbers have declined significantly from around 30,000 to just 1,000 today.
In 2023, the breed, which is one of England’s last semi-wild horses, was added to the Rare Breed Survival Trust watchlist.
And now campaigners have claimed that the horses are now at risk of extinction due to changes to the law about which animals can graze in Dartmoor.
Since 1994, environmental schemes have restricted the amount of farmers’ livestock that are allowed to feed on the land but the ponies – who are also the responsibility of the people who live in the area – have never been affected.
But, for the first time, the endangered species are expected to be included in restrictions set out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Natural England.
The new proposals ask Commoners – the people who look after the animals in Dartmoor – to cull their livestock by 75 per cent.
Pictured: A group of Dartmoor ponies. For more than 3,500 years semi-wild ponies have roamed the moors across Dartmoor in Devon. However, in the past 70 years their numbers have declined significantly from around 30,000 to just 1,000 today
Campaigners have claimed that the horses are now at risk of extinction due to changes to the law about which animals can graze in Dartmoor
The move from Defra is intended to limit the impact of overgrazing across the UK which can damage the biodiversity of moorland, including making the land unsustainable for future livestock.
And so the Government have asked farmers on moorlands to limit the grazing density of their livestock for more than 30 years.
Campaigners in Dartmoor said Defra misunderstands the area’s environmental life and they fear that up to 93 per cent of the ponies could be removed to make more room for commercial cattle-grazing.
They have claimed that the ponies could be rounded up during the annual October ‘drifts’ and be culled. The ‘drifts’ see farmers round ponies up into pens for health checks.
Charlotte Faulkner, the chairman of the Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony group, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘In all previous schemes, the ponies have run in the background. They’ve not been included in the grazing density numbers for cattle and sheep. Now they are.
‘So two things are happening. Farmers have to reduce their livestock by 75 per cent, and they have to include ponies. So the ponies have to compete with commercial livestock – they’ll always be the first to go.’
Ms Faulkner added that it would be an ‘irony’ if the animals were driven to extinction in the ‘name of rewilding’.
‘There’s a lack of coordination between Natural England and Defra. On one list we have to write a breeding programme, they’re endangered. On the other list, we’re being asked to shoot 75 per cent of them,’ she continued.
A petition to protect the ponies has gained more than 17,000 signatures.
The campaigner who started the petition, Sarah-Jane Norris, wrote: ‘Natural England’s proposals are intended to protect Dartmoor’s natural habitats and biodiversity. But removing ponies threatens the very biodiversity Natural England are seeking to protect.’
Campaigners in Dartmoor said Defra misunderstands the area’s environmental life and they fear that up to 93 per cent of the ponies could be removed to make more room for commercial cattle-grazing
She added: ‘Natural England is failing Dartmoor. Until now, Dartmoor’s remaining Hill Ponies have been afforded some protection by being excluded from recommended livestock grazing quotas on Dartmoor.
‘Now, the very body that exists to protect and enhance England’s wild spaces and the nature that they support is making decisions that go against scientific evidence and will be devastating for the Dartmoor Hill Pony AND Dartmoor’s ecology.’
For the past several years, Dartmoor has faced pressure from environmental groups who have blamed grazing and poor land management for a decline in biodiversity on the moor.
Last year, TV presenter and campaigner Chris Packham led a campaign for a judicial review against the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council claiming they had failed to enforce controls on grazing and the number of livestock.
In March, a High Court judge ruled that the local council had failed to assess the number of livestock grazing on the moor.
A Defra spokesperson said: ‘In line with the independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor, we are working with partners, including the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association, to help ensure that we maintain numbers of semi-wild ponies on the Moor for generations to come.’
