Drivers urged to be careful after Dartmoor pony loses third foal

A Plymouth woman is urging drivers to be careful after a Dartmoor pony lost its third foal in three years.

Jill Moreno found the foal with its back legs broken by the road near Cadover Bridge.

Jill says she recognised the horse and pulled over as she "knew something was wrong".

"Poor Nibbles has lost her third foal tonight," she said. "Her filly had her back legs broken. She was on the Cadover road.

"We drove past Nibbles on the way to do our ponies and on the way back home I knew something was wrong with her so we stopped to check her out and her foal was down a ditch, with the help of Sean, his son, and Kimberley, they pulled the foal out.

"There is no way she had broken her legs falling, she had been hit by a car and adrenaline got her off the road.

"I can’t believe this poor mare's luck to lose three foals in three years."

Jill said that even after a complete accident people must report hitting animals.

She said: "The worst thing is that it wasn’t reported - most incidents are avoidable by driving the speed limit and to the conditions, but some are genuine accidents - regardless of how it happened, report it.

"Had we not known the mare well and it had gone unnoticed, this foal would have been left suffering out of sight potentially for days.

"Please please slow down, the moor animals don’t know that a car will end their lives but you do."