A British conservation agency has urged visitors to a very touristy cliff in Wales to refrain from disturbing wildlife for photos after a pony cornered by tourists stumbled over the cliff.
“They all want to take photos, but they don’t realize what they’re doing – how much stress they’re putting the animal through,” complained farmer Nicky Beynon, whose family has looked after the wild horses of the Gower Cliffs in Swansea for generations, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
The incident occurred last April when the pony’s mother had just given birth a few hundred meters from the cliff when she and her little one were forced “closer and closer to the edge” by a crowd of visitors wanting photos make of the baby, said the farmer.
“Suddenly the newborn staggered to its feet, tried to learn to stand, and stumbled over the edge […] The foal had fallen about half an hour before I found her and she panicked. She knew he had just disappeared,” he continued to British media.
Previously, the farmer also had to bring the wild ponies to safety after an individual flew a drone near the horses.
“People fly drones here every day, and these things are capable of filming from hundreds of meters in height, and the same goes for camera zooms. There is no need to touch the horse or get that close to it,” he told the BBC.
Other animals have also reportedly been injured by visitors’ dogs left to fend for themselves, he added.
The National Trust, for its part, appealed to tourists in general to stay away from wild animals, including livestock and hair, which can become unpredictable, and to avoid feeding these animals as this could cause them harm, the BBC said.