A newborn foal is fighting for his life after being found abandoned on a hillside in south Wales at the weekend.
Staff at the Lluest Horse and Pony Trust in Carmarthenshire have taken the brown foal in and named him Oliver. Although attempts were made to find his mother, the pair could not be reunited.
“We are currently full up with other needy horses and ponies but when Oliver came to us we sprang into action to keep him alive,” sais Trust manager Emma Kurrels.
“We’ve managed to get him standing up and feeding from a bottle but newborns can be so fragile, so we’re taking it hour by hour at the moment.”
Oliver, who is being bottle fed every two hours, is proving very popular with staff at the Trust, although Emma fears seeing more foals in a similar state.
She explained: “Oliver is just one of many equines being abandoned at the moment.
“Overbreeding by irresponsible owners and the economic climate means there’s currently no market for these ponies; making them worthless.
“We already have another foal here who’d been abandoned in Carmarthenshire and, unfortunately, I think we’re going to see more and more animals suffer the same fate.”
