Technology triumphs to track down isolated ponies

Crawcwellt Moor is part of North Wales’ Snowdonia National Park – an area of 2,000 square kilometres that epitomises the rugged diversity of the welsh landscape. Its mountainous territory is abundant with indigenous wildlife, but in recent years has become home to a growing herd of semi-feral ponies.

Whilst the idea of the herd roaming the hills is a romantic notion, the reality is quite different and when walkers noticed some welfare issues with a few of the ponies, they contacted World Horse Welfare. It quickly became apparent that the first challenge would be to find the ponies in such a vast and challenging landscape.

Following a number of futile trips to the massive area, our latest film captures Field Officer Rachel Andrews successfully tracking down the ponies using the latest in drone technology, generously donated by South Essex Insurance Brokers.  

Rachel takes up the story:

Reports of a very lame foal had given the welfare team cause for concern, but Rachel soon discovered that other problems included indiscriminate breeding and the dumping of unwanted horses. Common land historically gives local livestock owners grazing rights. These ponies would have originally been on the land legitimately, but it was clear to Rachel that the situation had escalated. She continues:

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up to date with our latest films.