PONIES’ PLASTIC PERIL
New Forest wildlife seen feasting on rubbish left to rot in streets
THEY should be grazing on pastures in their lush forest habitat. Instead, these distressing images show a different and worrying reality.
Ponies and donkeys roam the streets of a tourist spot, ripping into black plastic sacks and gorging on the rubbish inside.
There are fears the wild horses of the New Forest National Park in Hampshire are regularly swallowing harmful plastics, as well as food waste that could be poisonous to them.
Homeowners have to leave their bin bags out on the street for collection as the local council does not operate a wheelie bin system.
As a result, animals rip open the flimsy black sacks and devour most of the contents.
These photographs, taken in the village of Bransgore, on the edge of the New Forest, highlight the threat to wildlife from the huge amount of plastic and other litter being dumped in our countryside, towns and beaches.
One image shows four donkeys munching on the contents of nine bin bags left against a garden fence. Another shows two ponies with their noses in rubbish sacks. Plastic bags and other rubbish abandoned by careless visitors in the forest itself also pose a threat to ponies.
In response to the growing menace posed by discarded plastic and other litter, the Daily Mail is urging everyone to take part in the Great British Spring Clean between March 22 and April 23, organised with Keep Britain Tidy.
Villagers have accused New Forest District Council of putting the ponies at risk by not issuing wheelie bins.
Resident Kate White said: ‘It’s really sad that this carries on week after week. I regularly come across ponies and donkeys eating rubbish at the side of the road.
‘I’m sure it happens in other areas too. I ride horses so I think this hits me more maybe, but even if I wasn’t a horse rider I still think this would bother me.
‘I have notified the council about it three times already and they say they will pass it on to the refuse team. But it’s disappointing because the council doesn’t do anything about it.
‘I don’t know why residents don’t have wheelie bins.’
Ponies have inhabited the New Forest for thousands of years, predating the last ice age.
Today they are owned by commoners – landowners who have ancient rights to allow animals to graze on the forest – and are free to roam the woodland.
There are about 5,000 and they continue to be a major tourist attraction. The council said it was the responsibility of homeowners to keep household rubbish away from the ponies.
On its website, the council states: ‘Your rubbish is your responsibility before it has been collected; if animals do split the bags then you are responsible for clearing it up.’
A council spokesman added: ‘We are aware that this is sometimes an issue in this area.
‘We are clearing the rubbish and will be reminding residents to keep their sacks inside their gates, as they live where there are freeroaming animals, and not to put rubbish out before 6pm the evening before collection.’
The Great British Spring Clean is the country’s biggest massaction environmental campaign.
So far 145,889 people have signed up to the event, which has been backed by Prince William, Theresa May and even the United Nations. Last year, despite bitterly cold weather brought by the Beast from the East, more than 370,000 volunteers took part, including more than 126,000 schoolchildren.
You can sign up at the website gbspringclean.org and either join a litter-picking group near you or pledge to take part on your own.