THE sight of rugged little ponies roaming free over Dartmoor could become a thing of the past.

The ponies — a symbol of Dartmoor for generations in the minds of locals and tourists alike — have become victims of the increasing hardships facing farmers.

Tavistock livestock auctioneer Andy Lane, of Ward and Chowen, said there would be no more sales after this week's miserable affair where ponies went for as little as 50p — if they were sold at all — and the animals would disappear from the moor.

'Prices are so low and it's so much hassle with everybody losing money doing it,' he said.

'When it was fun it was okay, but not now. There will be no more sales and there won't be any ponies left on Dartmoor.'

However, John Hodge, chairman of the Dartmoor Commoners' Council, was less pessimistic.

He said they and the Dartmoor National Park Authority had been concerned for some time about the situation and were trying to improve the quality of the ponies to resurrect the market.

Mr Lane said many farmers kept ponies on the moor to maintain the tradition, despite there being no market for them.

He said they had absorbed the losses while they were making profits from other activities. But now they were not, keeping the ponies could not be sustained.

'The general public brought it on themselves with their outcry about farmers selling them off,' said Mr Lane.

The population has increased, not only because many animals remain unsold, but also because post-BSE EU regulations means that it now costs £18 to slaughter a small pony that may be worth nothing — a price many farmers can not afford.

Some are being slaughtered, but other animals are being abandoned. Over the weekend more than a dozen ponies were rounded up in busy city streets in Plymouth, very distressed at finding themselves so far from their natural habitat.

Mr Hodge said: 'I do think a lot of Dartmoor ponies will have to go — there's no market for them, but there will be a certain number kept as an attraction because they are part of Dartmoor,' he said.

'There's still a place for the ponies. I'm sure it won't be the end — they are part of the fabric of Dartmoor.'

Dr Nick Atkinson, chief executive of the DNPA, said there wasn't any quick fix. He predicted the measures they were trying to get going with the commoners' council would be rather long-term and unlikely to show any results inside three to five years.

'I understand the auctioneers can no longer keep going,' he said. 'We are sad — it's a bit of heritage, but if there isn't a market it's a pretty senseless thing to keep going and we wouldn't argue with that.

'I'm not as gloomy to say this is the end of ponies on Dartmoor, there will always be people who want to keep them, but I think people will agree there needs to be fewer ponies on the moor, and of better quality.'

Dartmoor National Park has recognised that the survival of the Dartmoor pony may have to be ensured with public subsidy and has entered an agreement with a small group of pony-keepers over at the Hay Tor side of the moor to keep ponies on Dartmoor.

'It is sad and disappointing, but I don't think that's the end of the road,' said Dr Atkinson.