Barely alive...a pony dragged behind car
CALLOUS owners of a sick and distressed foal dragged him 600 yards behind their car to the far side of a field and left him to die rather than call a vet.
Weak and barely alive, the pony was dumped out of sight under a tarpaulin which they weighed down with heavy stones.
The young, severely underweight animal was hardly able to hold his head up due to dehydration when he was discovered by the gate of his field by the two neglectful owners.
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But rather than get him the veterinary help he so desperately needed they chose to tie his front legs together with a strap and drag him 600 yards behind their car.
Then, so nobody could see the six-month-old pony die, they threw a tarpaulin over him and covered it in rocks and stones.
Yesterday the RSPCA was trying to trace them.
RSPCA officials were called to the field at Thameside in Chertsey, Surrey, on Wednesday after someone spotted the collapsed colt.
When Inspector Nicky Thorn got there just 20 minutes later and could not see the foal she was told that it had been dragged to the other side of the field by a black car.
She said: “When I heard about it being dragged I expected to find a dead body.
“But nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see, even after years in this job.
“There was a tarpaulin which was covered in logs and stones and as I pulled it back there was a pony, weak, barely alive and terrified, just dumped under a plastic sheet and left to die in the dark with his front legs strapped together.
“His head was twisted around over his back where it had flopped as he was dragged and he was too weak to move back to a comfortable position.” Nicky cradled the pony – which RSPCA officers named Babe – in her arms while she waited for the help of colleagues.
But the brutal effects of Babe’s condition proved too much and he died.
A post-mortem examination carried revealed that Babe had bad diarrhoea, was dehydrated and was heavily infected with worms.
Nicky said: “When you do a job like this you see often some horrendous things. But I cannot even try to comprehend the terror and the pain that poor creature must have endured being dragged across the field and left there, his weak body tied up and twisted.
“Worse still, we have good reason to believe that had the foal not been moved he would probably still be alive now as the shock and the trauma made his condition much worse.” She added that his life could have been saved for as little as £5 with a product available in most agricultural stores.
The RSCPA last night appealed for help in tracking down Babe’s owners and those who own the field.
Under the Animal Welfare Act, anyone found guilty of abandoning or neglecting an animal can face a fine of up to £20,000 or six months in prison.
