Media coverage on the slaughter of Dartmoor ponies has continued this weekend. The Guardian published this shocking story on Saturday 11th December:
"A Trebor strong mint presented on the flat of his palm is all it takes to lure the Dartmoor hill pony to its death. As it eagerly approaches from within its holding pen, knackerman Andrew Goatman slowly raises his other hand behind the three-year-old mare's head and releases the boltgun into a one-inch "sweet spot" just above the eyes on her forelock. The pony slumps to the floor. Within five hours of her death, she is being butchered, ready to be fed to the lions and other carnivores at a local zoo...
...With the dead mare now hanging from a hook by one of her hind legs, Goatman uses his knife to swiftly sever the head from the body. In less than 30 minutes, he has removed the hoofs and guts – including a four-month-old foetus – and halved the remaining carcass with a specialist chainsaw. After tipping blue food dye over the meat to mark that it's not fit for human consumption, Goatman hoses the spilt blood into the drain before moving on to repeat the process on a dead foal..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/11/dartmoor-ponies-slaughter-zoo-feeding-lions
This story was featured in the Daily Mail on 10th December: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337642/Why-hundreds-Dartmoor-ponies-slaughtered-fed-tigers-zoo.html
