Farmer says people taking selfie forced pony off cliff
A farmer has said people crowding around for a selfie in an inappropriate location tragically forced one pony off a cliff.
Nicky Beynon, who hails from Rhossili, Swansea, has since issued a warning to any visitors to not touch the ponies who have been grazing on the Welsh cliffs for generations now after a new-born foal tragically fell to its death at the tourist hotspot back in April.
Beynon, 60, who farms in Llangennith and Rhossili, has claimed that his ponies become stressed when people try to pet them and get up close and personal to snap a few selfies.
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He 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."
The mother of the foal who sadly lost its life gave birth just 'a couple hundred yards' from the edge of the cliff when tourists started circling them in hopes of getting a closer look.
Beynon said they were 'trying to take photographs and forced her closer and closer to the edge'.
He went on: "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. 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."
After the heartbreaking incident, the farmer was forced to get all his mares to safety and away from the relentless crowds.
And that's by no means the only incident as Swansea resident, Louise Church, said she has had to step in on a number of occasions when visitors overwhelm the ponies.
Church said that, before the foal death, she intervened to stop one man who was chasing a pony all to get a snap.
"They're not domestic. They're wild animals," she explained.
The National Coastwatch Institution, based on the cliff, revealed it has to issue warnings on a daily basis for people to keep their distance from the ponies.
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 local area 'is home to a variety of special wildlife and livestock that grazes freely across the common land and meadows' and has asked people to keep to the countryside code and observe its guidelines.
The National Trust conservation charity has since asked visitors to obey the countryside code which maps out the responsibilities of visitors enjoying parks, waterways, the coast and the countryside as well as those who manage the land.
Such guidelines include; following the farmer’s directions when animals are being moved or gathered, giving wild animals, livestock and horses plenty of space and not feeding livestock, horses or wild animals as it can cause them harm.
Rhiannon Ingle