In September last year I wrote about horses being illegally grazed and abandoned, and the inability of landowners to do anything about it. Back then, the government were poised to debate the topic for two hours in a bid to find some kind of solution to the problem. It’s not an issue that gets all that much attention in the media – after all, how much of a problem can a few ponies be?
But fly-grazing, as this is called – actually causes a huge amount of trouble, for the horses themselves and for the people whose land they end up on, be that a private landowner or a local authority. The problem was that landowners had very little power to remove these horses from their land, which made these fly-grazed horses hugely costly, not just to farmers and landowners, but also to the taxpayer.
But as of yesterday the Control of Horses Act 2015 has come into force, which means more powers to move the equines elsewhere. A landowner can now remove a horse to a safe place immediately, and as long as they notify the police within 24 hours, can take further action after four days, either by rehoming the animals with an equine charity or a private home, by selling them privately or, in the worst cases, by euthanasia.
A similar act is already in place in Wales, which has helped the situation there, but the worry was that those who had previously been fly-grazing their animals in Wales would simply moved move across the border. Hopefully, this will no longer be the case, as English laws will be equally tough on the problem.
Fly-grazing has been a very interesting battle as it has united a number of groups who might not have otherwise worked together. The likes of the National Farmers Union and the Countryside Alliance have both had their own issues with the RSPCA in recent years, but on fly-grazing they have all worked together in a bid to find a solution for the benefit of both horses and humans. To many, abandoned horses might seem to be a non-issue. But for those regularly affected by it, it can be devastating, hence why York MP Julian Sturdy decided to kick-start this whole thing with a Private Members Bill back in February 2014.
Of course, this new act doesn’t mean that fly-grazing will stop overnight, or indeed that people will think before breeding horses when they have no homes for them, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
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