Horses for courses - the sale and treatment of wild ponies from Britain's New Forest - Statistical Data Included

Ecologist, The, May, 2001 by Hugh Warwick

The dealers had been conducting their own deals after the auction was finished. Animals that failed to reach their reserve price were cordoned off and then sold privately, saving the dealer the auctioneer's cut. Seeing that this was happening caused one of the RSPCA inspectors (who also didn't want to be named) to comment that the RSPCA 'would never buy or sell anything at this market'.

Pony tracking

The story surrounding these ponies, whether they are from Dartmoor or the New Forest, does not end at the market. There are a few who have been bought as pets, which is fine for the animals as long as the new owner is realistic. It may only cost 35p to buy, for example, but a colt will cost a further [pound]120 to be castrated.

Most are destined for the slaughterhouse. But before they get there they may face even more ordeals. After being bought by a dealer, the ponies lose their status as animals and become just another commodity. Ponies are turning up at markets with other markets' stickers still glued to them. 'This means that they have already been through the process at least once before,' explains the RSPCA inspector. 'So after being sold at a market, rather than being taken to the abattoir, they are transported to another market where they are sold again at a slight profit.'

This is a practice that has come to light during the Foot and Mouth disease outbreak; it is sheep being transported around the country from market to market that have helped to spread the disease. Treating animals as commodities, it seems, rebounds on everyone.

When this 'horse-trading' has finished, the ponies face another journey. There are only 12 abattoirs in the UK licensed to kill horses. So this means that these wild animals can face many hours crammed into lorries. CIWF investigators have followed these lorries. For example, they trailed a consignment of 52 tightly-packed ponies from the New Forest to a slaughterhouse in Nantwich, Cheshire. During the arduous seven-hour journey, two of the ponies had fallen and been unable to regain their feet. When the investigators tried to intervene, the driver called the police. This time the police were more impartial, agreeing that something needed to be done, and allowing a vet to be called to supervise the unloading.

Horsemeat

What then happens to the ponies is not clear. According to the transporter, some are going to the continent for human consumption. And this is a market that has been expanding. Customs and Excise figures show that 12,000 horse and pony carcasses were exported from Britain to France and Belgium in 1999; a 100 per cent increase on the 1994 figure. CIWF think that this trend will continue, as the fear of BSE remains.

The rest go to the pet food trade. This is not as simple as it may seem. According to the New Forest Pony Society, there used to be many options for getting rid of unwanted animals via the pet food industry. But now that industry is in the hands of just three multinationals, which demand a regular supply of a predictable product. And there is just one dealer left, who has a virtual monopoly. He claims to have retired, but was boasting of his work at a market in Cornwall at the end of 2000, and was seen threatening the CIWF investigators who had the temerity to follow one of his lorries.