Help us to map the extent of the fly grazing problem

There is now widespread recognition of a growing horse crisis in Britain. In particular the problem caused to owners of land by the fly grazing of horses. Not only is this potentially hugely expensive for those whose land is used for illegal grazing but it is also extremely damaging in terms of horse welfare. There is now agreement across a wide range of organisations including World Horse Welfare, the British Horse Society, NFU, CLA, RSPCA and the Countryside Alliance that action needs to be taken and various changes made to the law which would make it easier to tackle this problem in a way which protects horse welfare and reduces the cost to land owners and local authorities. So far DEFRA have argued that the existing law is adequate. We do not agree and the recent Control of Horses (Wales) Act 2014 is already showing what could be achieved in England. Read on to find out how you can help.

What can you do to help?

The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee will be examining this issue in early September. What we need is evidence of where the problem is occurring and on what scale. We are therefore asking all members and supporters who have been victims of fly grazing to let us know when and where (approximate postcode/nearest town) the fly grazing took place and how many horses were involved. We would also like to know how much it cost to resolve the problem. This will be used to develop a map of fly grazing hot spots across the country and provide evidence to pressure the Government to take action. Please note that the data will be completely anonymous. Please send any information to [email protected]

We are also looking for individuals who would be willing to give us first-hand experience of the problem to provide case studies. We appreciate that these will need to be anonymised but if you are able to help then please do not hesitate to contact us on the email above.

For further information, click here for World Horse Welfare's Horse crisis page. This page contains a briefing on the problem as well as a downloadable version of the below map of fly grazing hotspots.