Changes needed to maintain purity of Exmoor ponies – report

A novel study raises concerns over the mightiness of electrical flow breeding practices to maintain the genetic purity of Britain’s famous free-living Exmoor ponies.

The alert is contained inward a novel independent study past times veterinary Peter Green looking at the welfare, breeding together with management of the ponies inside Exmoor National Park.

Green reported that electrical flow management together with breeding arrangements could non run into the necessitate to include together with promote rarer bloodlines.

Green described the Exmoor ponies, recognised every bit a rare breed nether British together with European regulations, every bit a valuable property inside the park.

The animals  are divided into separate herds, each belonging to a moorland owner, roughly of whom are every bit good moorland farmers.

The breed, he said, was considered a valuable genetic resources nether the price of the Farm Animal Genetic Resources criteria, which attracted roughly solid reason support.

“The genetic diverseness of the Exmoor pony is limited,” Green said.

“It has suffered from a really pocket-sized foundation population, when the breed criterion was gear upwards inward the early on 20th century together with from pregnant in-breeding since then.

“Maternal bloodlines accept been lost together with a few stallions accept dominated the stud-book.

“Concern has been expressed virtually the time to come purity of the free-living Exmoor ponies because of the increasing presence of non-Exmoor ponies living freely on the moor.”

He said at that topographic point were considerable difficulties inward disposing of foals from free-living herds without consigning them to slaughter, but limitations on breeding risked farther constriction of the genetic base of operations of the breed.

“There are no regulations or constraints upon farmers, graziers or landowners that compel them to safeguard the purity of the free-living Exmoor ponies,” he said.

“There is no machinery or mandatory protocol whereby non-Exmoor ponies must hold out removed from the moor.

“Under electrical flow arrangements, the survival of the Exmoor pony every bit a distinct type together with color of pony living freely on the moor is theme entirely upon goodwill together with cannot hold out guaranteed.

“Large areas of Exmoor are inward mortal ownership; the solid reason owners are the only ones amongst the mightiness to gear upwards together with enforce price of tenancy or grazing licences that would promote the Exmoor pony.”

He continued: “The necessitate to create out the breeding programme for the breed on Exmoor together with to include together with promote rarer bloodlines cannot hold out met past times nowadays management together with husbandry arrangements.”

He said the insistence upon the deoxyribonucleic acid testing system risked losing valuable genetic cloth nowadays on the moor.

If the free-living Exmoor pony herds was to thrive together with the distinct graphic symbol of the rare breed was to hold out preserved on Exmoor, changes inward management together with inward the criteria for registration into the stud-book were needed, Green said.

The report, commissioned past times the Exmoor Moorland Landscape Partnership Scheme, the Exmoor Pony Society together with Exmoor National Park Authority, constitute that the free-living Exmoor ponies were inward expert health.

Exmoor National Park’s caput of conservation together with access, Sarah Bryan, said: “The commutation to success is the dissimilar organisations working together amongst the moorland herd owners together with solid reason owners to amend the province of affairs together with this study volition hold out used to inform an activity plan.”

The managing director for the moorland partnership, Jason Ball, said: “This is an first-class independent study – the moorland herd owners accept discussed Peter Green’s findings straight amongst him at a presentation flush together with Exmoor National Park Authority volition hold out collecting their feedback.”

The Exmoor Pony Society’s Sue McGeever said her grouping was looking forrad to continuing its working human relationship amongst the Exmoor National Park Authority, the Rare Breed Survival Trust together with the moorland farmers to ensure that it fulfilled its piece of job every bit “Guardians of the Breed”, spell every bit good working inside electrical flow legislation.

The Exmoor Pony Society was founded inward 1921 past times a grouping of moorland farmers amongst the aim of keeping the free-living ponies living on Exmoor “true to type” and, inward their words, “without unusual blood”.

To produce so, they introduced a studbook together with an inspection procedure which has continued throughout the decades.

The depression indicate was only afterwards World War two when only fifty ponies remained on the moor.

There are at in i lawsuit nearer 500 registered ponies running inward 21 herds.

The amount study tin hold out read here. 

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