PONIES on Dartmoor could soon be slaughtered for human consumption, it has been revealed.
The Dartmoor Hill Pony Association (DHPA) has written to charities and organisations about launching a 'meat trade' scheme to deal with the increasing number of foals being born on the moor.
The plan has prompted an angry response from one animal protection charity, which says it is "absolutely horrified" at the concept.
In a letter setting out the proposals, Charlotte Faulkner of DHPA wrote that it was an "understandably upsetting subject" which pony lovers would find "hard to accept".
"Dartmoor pony herders will only carry on keeping their herds if they have a sustainable market for them," she wrote. "We are in real danger of ponies disappearing from Dartmoor altogether."
Earlier this year an annual sale of Dartmoor ponies at Tavistock came to an end after hundreds of years, as the demand for ponies as pets has dropped due to the economic downturn.
Ms Faulker said there are currently more ponies being born that can be homed, despite schemes to reduce this number, such as contraception.
"All of these projects will continue and remain part of a modern management plan for Dartmoor, and the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association believes the meat trade should be too," she wrote.
But Becky Treeby, welfare officer for South West Equine Protection (SWEP), said she was "absolutely horrified" at the proposals.
"SWEP would like to publicly announce that we will never support overbreeding or killing ponies for profit," she said.
She added: "SWEP believe that this proposal is nothing but another money-making scheme and a solution for greed only. SWEP do not believe that continuing to overbreed to kill for anyone or anything's consumption is the best solution for the ponies on the commons."
Ms Treeby says her preferred solution would be to remove stallions from the moor or give them vasectomies.
"Already smart farmers have clicked onto this and own a fully-functioning, well-maintained herd out on the commons," she said. "Perhaps they value the ecology and beauty of the ponies rather than the money."
A spokesman for the Friends of Dartmoor Hill Pony group said it would not support the human consumption scheme.
"We have ignored two reports commissioned on the future of ponies which recommend putting this in place," he said.
"This just means we have to work harder to make our other plans work."
Although we do not consume horse meat in any great quantity in the UK, a large number of horses are slaughtered in Britain each year for export for human consumption.
Horse passports are required by law, and are necessary in order to prevent horses entering the human food chain if they have been treated with medicines that must not be administered to food-producing animals.
