Exclude Dartmoor hill ponies from Natural England’s livestock grazing quotas — 8 signatures. Status: rejected.
Natural England’s new grazing contracts count Dartmoor hill ponies in livestock quotas with cattle and sheep. Commoners will cull ponies for commercial animals. Fewer than 1,000 remain and they are endangered. Exclude heritage ponies from these quotas now.
Dartmoor hill ponies have roamed the moor for 3,500 years and are classified as endangered, with fewer than 1,000 remaining. They uniquely eat invasive Molinia grass, which chokes native plants — making them vital to moorland ecology. Removing them will accelerate the very biodiversity decline Natural England exists to prevent. Ponies were previously excluded from grazing quotas in recognition of this. We urge the Government to restore that protection permanently.
View this petition on the official UK Parliament website