Culling wild ponies on Dartmoor

[baerben]

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15918295/The-woke-quango-wants-cull-wild-pony-Dartmoor-wont-speak-people-fighting-save-lives.html

AIBU to think this is horrendous? I have no agricultural background but as I understand it Natural England wants to protect bio diversity in the area and avoid overgrazing. Surely there must be a different way?

Radio 4 has done a few slots on this issue.
I know the BBC isn't what it was but I would take a radio 4 analysis of the situation over the DM any day.

Fwiw I'm totally against culls in general and this one in particular

https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/09/dartmoor-ponies-clarification-of-natural-englands-role-and-position/

This link distinguishes fact from fiction.

As I understand it, Natural England set stocking densities of grazing animals which farmers must adhere to for funding purposes. Historically this number was for agricultural animals (cows and sheep) but now includes the ponies. It is this inclusion that is forcing the farmers hand.

NE may not have said "cull the ponies" but by including them in stocking densities they're effectively saying "cull the ponies".

Me too. Humans are so selfish.

Good job it's not happening then. Just the daily mail bullshitting for clicks

We really are!!! Humans cause the problems in the first place!!!

“Recent media coverage has suggested that Natural England has recommended a cull of ponies on Dartmoor. This is categorically not true, nor is it true to suggest any scheme has been designed with the aim of achieving this.”

“We are actively encouraging the continued presence of ponies as part of a balanced, well‑managed landscape. Dartmoor ponies play a vital role for nature on the moor due to the way they graze, in addition to their huge cultural value.”

The wild ponies are the responsibility of the people who own it manage the land they graze on. That means they need to provide food when it is scarce and veterinary care for serious injury or illness. The only way to make this affordable is to cull numbers so there is a manageable number for the land they have to live on.

No one wants to do this, they desperately try to sell youngstock but that often means the meat man getting them at 2 for £5 at auction or unknowledgeable people buying them as pets and allowing them to suffer through ignorance.

Controlling breeding would be the best option. That would have to mean limiting the number of mares (culling again) or sterilising them in some way.

They are saying cull the ponies but in such a way that it effectively takes the blame off National England and puts it onto the farmers. If you have a choice of keeping cows and sheep which make money and ponies which don’t, it’s not rocket science working out which ones go. The ponies never used to be included in grazing numbers but now are.

They’ve done it this way so everyone blames those nasty farmers for killing the ponies while the overpaid idiots at National England pat themselves on the back for getting away with it.

A cull for the sake of the breed would be unpalatable but necessary for the survival of the species, this is just outright evil.

This is true, the decision about which animals are grazed on the moor is going to rest with landowners and commoners according to a BBC article.

Critics say that ignores what they see as the inevitable outcome of the policy change - a cull of up to 90% of the remaining ponies on the moor.

It's not true, but half the readers will go away thinking it is! Check things before posting once it's said people will just read the headline and believe it and spread the lie far and wide.

So it's pure speculation nothing to do with current policy. Responsibility for the ponies always did rest with farmers and commoners nothing has changed.

Can they be fed to apex predators in wildlife parks, who would prefer a diet of zebra and antelope to zoo food?

This doesn’t mean that farmers don’t cull ponies, because they do to keep numbers down.

Exactly, NE and their predecessors have been interfering with traditional moorland management practices for decades and that is what has caused this mess.

Dartmoor ponies have always been exported for the meat trade in continental Europe though - mostly live for slaughter and processing in Ireland before shipment to the main markets in France, Belgium, Germany etc. Although some enterprising farmers are slaughtering them locally for the small but growing horsemeat trade in the UK: https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/dartmoor-hill-pony-burgers-prove-491624

But as others point out, this article is false and Natural England are not mandating a cull.

And these “wild” ponies wouldn’t exist and would never have existed.

The correct term is 'semi feral' but the general public are unlikely to know that. Mass media tend to say 'wild ponies' & the term is widely used & understood eg in road safety campaigns.

Yes they can & even pet riding horses can be disposed of in that way (depending on how they were euthanized & if they had been given any medication)
Some people prefer this as it is natural & the most environmentally friendly option) a lot of horse owners are from working/farming backgrounds so it doesn't feel as uncomfortable as non country people would think.

They should look to the New Forest for management. There was a time where there were large numbers of poor quality foals which were sold for meat.
Numbers have been reduced & the bloodlines improved with emphasis on the New Forest breed. Some still say the numbers should be reduced further (chris packham) but the mainly heathland habitat is maintained by the grazing ponies - it would otherwise need more human intervention or turn into woodland.

Most of the Dartmoor ponies are not true Dartmoor ponies.

Nothing has changed in that the farmers and commoners have responsibility.

BUT NE have changed the goal posts with regard to which species of animal is included in the stocking density. Ponies were NOT counted before. Now they ARE counted. That is a SIGNIFICANT change which must be taken into account by any farmer or commoner when deciding which stock to run on the moor to maintain their livelihood. NE cannot be so naive as to not know that yet they fall back on plausible deniability "we didn't say they had to shoot them ..." Well no. But yes.

nope, enlighten me but only if you have a clear scientific understanding of moors and how to manage them as an ecosystem and not for the benefit of visitors with disposable barbecues.

do those of you who think that it isn’t true, see them problem now?

The problem is though that NE’s response is rather disingenuous so unless you understand farming and moorland management you are still being misinformed. Which misinformation you believe just depends on which side of the fence you sit and in the meantime farmers go under, or worse.

Thank you, that is a very important clarification.