Unscrupulous dealers send British ponies to their deaths in Dublin

Animal protection authorities in the Republic of Ireland believe that hundreds of wild ponies from Britain are being sold cheaply to working-class youths in Dublin, where many end up being put down or impounded due to neglect.

Unbroken ponies from the New Forest and the Shetlands are being bought at auction by unscrupulous dealers and then sent by truck for sale in Ireland, said the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Inspector Robbie Kenny of the DSPCA said the British ponies were shipped to the Republic through Northern Ireland to bypass regulation veterinary checks on all live animals arriving at ports.

"A lot of them have veterinary papers saying they have been checked and are fit for sale," said Mr Kenny. "I don't know who's checking them. They may be fit for sale but from the condition we are seeing them in they definitely aren't fit to be moved."

Most of the horses from Shetland suffer from strangles, a flu-like disease which can have catastrophic effects when it spreads to valuable blood stock. In many cases, British ponies are packed into overloaded trailers and the EU requirement that they be fed and watered every eight hours is ignored.

Towards the end of last year DSPCA inspectors confiscated three underweight New Forest ponies from a London dealer. "They were eating their own dung off the trailer floor," said Mr Kenny. "There was no food for them and no water and they must have been packed in the trailer [with 12 others] for at least two days."

The dealer had papers showing that he had purchased the animals for 80p a head at an auction of wild ponies culled by the New Forest Trust. He boasted that he would sell them on for at least 120 Irish punts (£100) each. Having sold their British cargo, most of the dealers – mainly based in Northern Ireland – purchase higher quality Irish horses and ponies for sale in Britain.

The DSPCA said that two trailers of Shetland ponies, carrying between 30 and 50 animals, normally arrived at the Smithfield horse fair in Dublin each month, and that other British ponies were being sold privately or at other horse fairs around the country. Imported New Forest ponies have become less common in recent months, although many are still traded between local owners in Dublin.

Although too small for riding by anyone but young children, most of the Shetland and New Forest ponies are purchased by working-class youths from Dublin, where "urban horses" have become a serious problem.

Few of the new owners have access to adequate grazing, feed or veterinary resources, and many of the horses are kept on wasteland bordering run-down council estates. The main horse pound for the east of Ireland, at Urlingford in County Kilkenny, said about 450 horses, ponies and donkeys were sent in from the greater Dublin area each year.

According to the DSPCA, many young owners find they cannot feed their horses in the winter, when grazing runs out, and many horses die of neglect in the colder months. The Dublin agency puts down two to three horses a month, and takes in many others for emergency care before sending them to the pound. Most impounded horses are eventually found new homes.

"The dealers are specifically targeting children, because these are the only horses children can afford," said Mr Kenny. "I always ask young lads, 'Why did you buy that pony? It's too small. It's no good to you for anything', and they'll say, 'Because it's cheap. It's the one I can afford'."