Shetland pony nearly died after passer-by fed him a roast
CALLS for a new law making it illegal for passers-by to feed horses are gaining momentum after a Shetland pony ate a roast dinner and nearly died.
Former police officer Gail HunterWarburton found five-year-old Hamish collapsed in its field and had to get it transported for emergency surgery.
She found a plate of chicken, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding in the field near Bournemouth, Dorset that had been fed to Hamish.
Some 8,853 people have signed a parliamentary petition to make strangers feeding horses, ponies and livestock a criminal offence under legislation that may be named Hamish’s Law.
Mrs Hunter-Warburton supports it after she paid £5,500 on vets bills to save the pony’s life. The 57-year-old said: “I clearly want the law changing because it has directly affected me. It caused me serious stress.”
Hamish got colic, an abdominal pain which can be fatal if left untreated with a common cause being an abrupt change in feed. It was in hospital for five days and on box rest for three weeks where he was not allowed out after having 30 stitches.
The pony has now been moved seven miles to a different field as it “doesn’t feel safe” for him to be near the public.
Mrs Hunter-Warburton, said: “There are no rules at the moment and if there are, no one takes any notice.”
It will be a few months before Hamish is given the all clear, Mrs HunterWarburton said: “He’s ok now but we’re not 100 per cent out of the woods.”
Mrs Hunter-Warburton said she has found pork pies, chips and chocolate bars thrown over the gate where her ponies graze.
“You just think ‘what the hell are you doing’. Horses don’t eat this sort of thing. “It’s a national problem and it’s happening on a weekly basis,” the grandmother added.
A survey by Dr David Marlin, a biochemist and physiologist, revealed 79 per cent of horse owners suffered the public interfering with their horses and ponies on private property.