Stop the barbaric annual slaughter of the Dartmoor ponies and baby foals

Dartmoor is a killing field of the innocent. Each autumn the ponies are rounded up, foals are separated from their mothers and are sold at markets in Tavistock and Chagford. 800 foals were sold for a pittance and slaughtered last year. This year numbers were around 600, any which didn't make £10.50 were shot for zoo food. Baby foals of 4 months old can be slaughtered on their own, if they are younger, and many are, they are killed with their mothers. Mares are also killed and pregnant ones. This is now public knowledge and it has to end. The meat lorries are present at the sales and foals are loaded straight from the sale pens and onto the lorry. There is no excuse for this slaughter when a managed breeding programme could be instated and the farmers supported to this end to let these beautiful, iconic creatures live out their lives, wild on the moors.