Luke Pollard MP: ‘I will fight for Dartmoor’s semi-wild ponies’
In an op-ed for The Moorlander, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard outlines the challenges facing the semi-wild hill pony herd and the fight to secure lasting protections
4,000 years ago, the world looked pretty different. Few things are left standing after thousands of years of history have flown by. Dartmoor’s ponies are one of them. Bronze Age tribes, the Roman conquest, the industrial revolution and two World Wars, our semi-wild ponies have existed through them all.
They have roamed unmoved by empires, witnessed societies collapsed and rebuilt, and are older than England itself. They are now facing a critical threat, with Natural England’s new contracts for farmers and landowners risking a cull, supporters say, of up to 90 per cent of Dartmoor ponies.
What is the issue we face? These proposed contracts, which pertain to overall livestock unit limits, plan to include the ponies alongside other, more commercially viable livestock, with regard to grazing figures. This risks creating a financial incentive to prioritise cattle and sheep over the ponies, which may lead to a cull at the annual drift this Autumn. Dartmoor ponies have already faced significant blows to their population numbers, declining from around 7,000 to 900 in the past quarter of a century, facing an extinction-level threat. It’s important to say that Natural England may not be culling the ponies themselves, but they are proposing to create circumstances where others may be forced to.
To be clear: nobody wants a cull. The government is committed to preventing one from occurring, and has accepted the recommendations of the Fursdon Review. In particular, the government has accepted recommendation 27 of the review which states that ‘‘Dartmoor’s pony population is genetically important and invaluable for conservation grazing. Ponies and cattle should not be linked for the calculation of Agri-Environment agreement stocking rates and Natural England should not take actions likely to result in a decline in pony numbers.’.
The government’s commitment is clear. It is right that these recommendations are accepted, in particular considering the important role ponies play in conserving the wider ecosystem. Dartmoor’s ponies are able to graze on invasive grasses that destroy a number of different species’ habitats. Other animals are unable to do this, and we have seen the effects of declining pony numbers on wildlife in the local area.
I have been blown away by the encouragement I have received to stop the cull of Dartmoor’s semi-wild ponies. Other MPs, community organisations, and many others have reached out to express their support for the ponies, and to share their insights on this troubling issue. I am concerned, however, that some actors are using this crisis to further political agendas.
I will always gladly welcome genuine cross-party support. It is vital that we put partisan differences to one side when dealing with urgent situations with severe consequences such as this. Nonetheless, I find the Leader of the Opposition’s remarks on this issue difficult to square with the previous government’s record. I successfully fought to stop the cull in 2024, after the government inherited policies from the Conservatives that prevented farmers and landowners from securing the necessary funding to support our precious ponies. I was grateful for the support of the Labour government, who put their full weight behind the campaign then and averted the risk of a cull inherited from the last government. It is easy to jump on bandwagons and call, rightly, for a change in Natural England’s policy on Dartmoor
ponies. If the Conservatives truly cared about our ponies, they would not have put us in this position two years ago.
When I last campaigned against a cull of these ponies, I spoke to Ministers, pony groups, local organisations, and residents to determine the best way to prevent it from occurring. I am doing the exact same thing this time around, and have written to the new farming minister to express my concerns. You can see a copy of my letter here.
Now that Ministers have, again, been clear there will be no cull of Dartmoor Ponies, we now need the conditions to prevent culls to be addressed. That means lasting protections and support for these magnificent creatures. It means a long-term plan for their recovery and habitat restoration on the moors. Until that is guaranteed, I will continue to stand up for Dartmoor’s semi-wild ponies, and ensure that their enduring presence remains for generations to come.