MORE than 100 people have signed an online petition to date calling on the Welsh Assembly to enforce microchipping laws for horses and ponies.
The Monmouth-based horse charity The Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies launched the campaign following one of its busiest winters on record.
The charity feeds large groups of up to 70 abandoned horses and ponies in fields, and cares for up to 40 at its home in St Maughan’s, but is being called out to loose horses on roads and those in neglect.
The horses are not microchipped, making it impossible to establish who owns them, despite it being a legal requirement to microchip any foal born after July 2009 and to have an equine passport.
This leaves the charity, which cares for abandoned and sick horses and ponies, having to foot the bill for the microchips and passports.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the law and to encourage the Assembly to bring those who flout it to justice.
Chairwoman and founder of SWHPMrs Jenny Macgregor, MBE, said: “These reckless owners have no regard for the law, which needs enforcing.”
Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay supports the campaign to enforce the microchipping laws that already exist.
The petition closes on September 30 and can be found at assemblywales.org
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