DARTMOOR ponies could be wiped out if new government licensing regulations are adopted, Dartmoor Commoners' Council was warned at its meeting last week.

Rick Manley, chairman of the New Forest Commoners' Defence Association, who met Commoners at Postbridge last week, said urgent action was needed to save ponies on Dartmoor and in the New Forest in the light of new rules.

He said although the two areas were very different, if new regulations requiring all horses to have unique numbers and passports, as proposed by Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael, were implemented, the herds would be 'wiped out'.

Mr Manley said: 'This has massive implications as far as the New Forest is concerned and I would think it's the same down here.

'They are talking about potentially £25 for a passport and £10 for a microchip.

'I don't think the ministry has taken on board the implications —we have a tourist industry that depends on ponies. I think it's been done with the best intentions, but it's not been thought through properly, purely through ignorance. My major worry is if we don't get some positive input, it will be implemented.'

Mr Manley said he did not want to 'pour scorn' on all the proposals — they would aid breeding and disease surveillance but did not take into account the unique situation in the New Forest and Dartmoor.

He said the New Forest was trying to 'put its house in order' as far as pony breed quality was concerned and the days of ponies being sold for £3 or £4 had to stop.

Dartmoor and New Forest ponies were a 'very valuable product' in terms of the environment and tourism — this ethos had to be encouraged to increase their value financially, but it was threatened by the cost of the passport scheme.

'We are a very small minority in the overall picture, however, the impact on our animals and yours will be horrendous,' he said, urging the commoners to get together with the New Forest to come up with some 'concurrent thinking' with a joint response to DEFRA by the end of the month.

Cherry Seage, secretary of Dartmoor Commoners, said the council felt the passport system, intended to bring the UK into line with European legislation aimed at increasing the safety of horsemeat, was 'a sledgehammer to crack a nut'.

She said: 'The value of the passport will far exceed the value of the animal, which can only lead to one thing — if the animals are heavily subsidised because they have no value, people will no longer want to keep them.

'They will disappear from Dartmoor and that will have a devastating effect on the landscape.'

Mrs Seage admitted there were too many ponies on the moor and rationalising their numbers would probably be an advantage — but the commoners felt the issue could be tackled in a more simple way.

Maurice Retallick, vice-chairman of Dartmoor National Park Authority, and a Dartmoor Commoner, said: 'The passport system is coming and we need to set out some positive arguments in a very clear manner as to why this is going to damage pony structure and how we could live with it.'

The commoners agreed to liaise closely with New Forest Commoners over the issue. The council has already sent its own response to the proposals, suggesting herds rather than individual animals are registered.

Individual mares and foals would then be registered at the point of sale.

In a parliamentary answer earlier this year, Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael said the Government felt it was

vital to establish a central database of basic

information on horses which could be used for disease control and other purposes.

The Government would establish the necessary arrangements following discussion with the horse industry.

DEFRA will consider responses to the proposals this summer.