Are the Dartmoor hill ponies dying out?

Photo Credit: Mike on Flickr. 

Last week, the annual Dartmoor hill pony auction took place in Tavistock, Devon, however this years traditional, and much loved, event brought more gloom than ever before. 

By the end of the morning just 20 out of the 60 ponies up for auction had been sold, with prices dropping as low as just £20 per head. This dramatic drop in sales means that the surplus ponies will be sent to slaughter to become meat for pet food and even sent to the local Dartmoor Zoo that uses the pony meat to feed their tigers and other big cats. 

The commoners that bring their ponies down from the moor every year to take to auction say that they do not expect to make a lot of money from them, however the money that they do make does help to manage the remaining ponies. 

The lack of market is causing concern that the Dartmoor hill ponies may become extinct much faster than expected. Along with the current financial crisis, the rules and regulations surrounding keeping and transporting these ponies are increasing, which in turn is putting people off buying them. 

It is thought that a century ago the number of Dartmoor hill ponies stood at around 30,000 but now numbers may be fewer than 1,000. 

The extinction of this species would not only be a sad event, it would also majorly affect the ecosystem up on the moor itself. The ponies, along with cattle and sheep, are essential for managing the moors that we see today through their specific and unique grazing patterns, and without them the moors will simply not exist as they are.