A stunning tourist hotspot in Wales has become a prime photo-taking opportunity for visitors, but people taking selfies have now caused a newborn foal to fall to its death off a cliff, the pony's owner has claimed.
Horses have grazed on the cliffs of Gower in Swansea for generations, but after several ponies have died, farmer Nicky Beynon has banned visitors from touching the horses. Three of Mr Beynon's ponies died last year after being hit by cars, and are frequently harassed by tourists who are wandering on the cliffs where the horses graze. Now, the 60-year-old is questioning the ponies' future on the cliffs.
The National Trust has become involved following the increased incidents with the horses, and has now warned visitors to stick to the countryside code, which says to give wild animals, livestock and horses plenty of space, and to follow farmers' directions in order to keep everyone safe.
Tourists try to take photos of the ponies on the marsh, but it can cause huge stress on the animals (Joann Randles/Cover Images)Mr Beynon farms in Llangennith and Rhossili, and said his gypsy cob ponies are overwhelmed by people trying to touch them and take selfies up close, according to reporting from the BBC.
Mr Beynon said: "They all want to take a photograph, but they don't realise what they're doing - the amount of stress they're putting on the animal."
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The farmer said the foal's death happened in April, and only months earlier had been born just a few hundred yards from the cliff edge. When the foal was being born, Mr Beynon said people were crowding the horses and trying to take photographs.
He said: "All of a sudden the newborn is staggering to its feet, trying to learn how to stand up, and trips over the edge. The mare who lost her foal over the cliff, she's quite a sharp sort of sensitive mare.
A mare and her foal on the Llanrhidian Marsh, North Gower (Joann Randles/Cover Images)"The foal had gone over about half an hour before I found her and she was just going ballistic. She knew the foal had just vanished." Since the incident, Mr Beynon has been taking each of his mares home so they could foal safely.
Last year, a drone was flown around the headland, just 10ft above one of the ponies' heads. Mr Beynon said the pony was spinning around, trying to work out where the noise was coming from.
The farmer said the person using the drone could not understand how much stress he was putting the pony under, and said there was no need for the drone to get so close to the horse. Mr Beynon has already had to stop grazing sheep on the headland after a series of dog attacks, including when a sheep was eaten alive by someone's pet Alsatian.
A Swansea resident who regularly visits the area said she had to intervene several times when she sees people scaring the horses. Louise Church, 47, said in April, just before the death of the newborn foal, she was forced to stop a man who was chasing a pony to get a photo.
A new-born foal died after being forced over the edge of a cliff, as people tried to take photos (Joann Randles/Cover Images)She said the ponies are not domestic, but are wild animals. And just four weeks ago when she was walking her dog, she said she saw a family with a three-year-old girl who had walked up to the back legs of a horse and was stroking its legs.
Ms Church said: "The parents were oblivious. If the horse had kicked her she would have been in serious trouble".
The National Coastwatch Institution, based on the cliff, said it is having to issue warnings on a daily basis for people to stay back from the ponies. In a post on social media, the organisation said: "It was only recently we had to transport a young lady up to the car park after she had been kicked by a stallion near our hut. We did what we could, first aid-wise, but she found walking difficult.
National Trust Cymru, Gower said the area "is home to a variety of special wildlife and livestock that grazes freely across the common land and meadows". It asked everyone to keep to the countryside code and observe its guidelines.
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