Dartmoor pony meat sold by conservation charity in bid to maintain population numbers
The Dartmoor Hill Pony Association said 400 foals a year were being shot by farmers
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Your support makes all the difference.A conservation charity has begun selling pony meat in order to save the endangered Dartmoor Hill pony.
The meat will be made into sausages and steaks and can be bought at farmers’ markets and restaurants in Devon.
In a statement on its website, the charity said the decision was made to encourage farmers to conserve them.
The number of Dartmoor ponies has fallen from more than 25,000 in the 1930s to less than 800 today.
400 foals a year are shot by farmers - which the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association says is "not acceptable".
It said: "Due to the economic problems being felt in this country and abroad, the sale of horses and ponies has dramatically decreased. For semi-feral herds across the UK this has become a huge problem.
"During the last few years many Dartmoor farmers have stopped keeping ponies as they are no longer viable and unless a way can be found to make them profitable the remaining farmers will have to do the same.
"Hill Farmers can’t afford to keep luxuries and this will mean that the Moor won’t be grazed properly...and would become vastly overgrown.
"[This] not only prevents the vital income brought by tourists but also greatly damaging the habitats of a number of insects and birds and other animals."
The charity said pony meat had already proven popular with local hoteliers as it "low in fat, high in omega 3, organic and delicious like venison".
Ponies will not enter the food chain until they are at least three years old giving them "three summers running free on the moor".
But other conservation groups are skeptical about the plans.
When the DPHA first proposed selling pony meat last year, another local conservation group - South West Equine Protection (SWEP) - said "it would be very upsetting to look at foals which in six months' time could be in someone's burger".
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