Campaigners say new grazing rules on Dartmoor could lead to the removal of many hill ponies, but the government says it will not allow a cull.
A dispute over the future of Dartmoor’s hill ponies has intensified after campaigners warned that new conservation-linked grazing contracts could lead to the removal, and likely culling, of large numbers of the semi-wild animals.
Opponents say Natural England’s new moorland agri-environmental schemes, which pay farmers to graze upland areas in ways intended to benefit nature, would include ponies in livestock counts and could require grazing cuts of 56% to 89% on the moor’s commons. Campaigners say that could leave commoners choosing between commercial sheep and cattle and the hill ponies they have traditionally guarded.
The warning has drawn political attention, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch calling the situation “total madness” and launching a petition. Downing Street, however, said the government would not allow a cull and said Natural England had neither recommended one nor had the power to order one.
Dartmoor hill ponies have been part of the landscape for thousands of years, but their numbers have fallen sharply. There were about 6,000 on Dartmoor 25 years ago; fewer than 1,000 remain, according to the captured report.
Joss Hibbs, secretary of the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association, said the policy could damage both farms and the landscape. The association says ponies are important grazers of Molinia grass, which has come to dominate parts of the moor.
“Natural England’s approach will devastate the Dartmoor hill pony population, it will make farms financially unviable and it’s extremely doubtful there will be any environmental benefit,” Hibbs said.
Friends of the Dartmoor Hill Pony, a Devon-based charity, has called for long-term legal protection for the remaining herds and for a separate agreed moor-wide herd size, which campaigners say existed under previous contracts. Campaigners also want Natural England to wait for the Land Use Management Group, set up after a government-commissioned review in 2023, to finish work on a Dartmoor land-use plan due by 2027.
Natural England said it wanted to maintain numbers of semi-wild ponies on the moor “for generations to come.” A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson said the government was working with partners, including the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association, in line with the independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor.
The immediate question is whether the new contracts can be adjusted in a way that satisfies conservation goals while preserving the remaining hill pony herds and the farms that manage them.
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