:00:08. > :00:14.A familiar sight across Wales, horses left to roam and fend for
:00:14. > :00:19.themselves. Keep still. But not always in the places where you
:00:19. > :00:25.expect to find them. This little fellow is out again. Right down
:00:25. > :00:28.there it is a really busy road. Horses which have been dumped,
:00:28. > :00:35.abandoned or roaming around desperate for food are causing a
:00:35. > :00:39.major headache for the authorities. Can you just... It is my horse.
:00:39. > :00:44.is costing hundreds of thousands of pounds and there are fears for
:00:44. > :00:50.public safety and the animals' welfare. These poor horses will
:00:50. > :00:55.need someone to look after them. We are the only choice they have.
:00:55. > :00:58.is a wonder no one has been killed yet. Sadly, when that does happen
:00:58. > :01:03.they will confront the issues. Tonight we ask whether the law is
:01:03. > :01:13.failing to stop this, as we investigate the mayhem across Wales
:01:13. > :01:19.
:01:19. > :01:27.From the board in the East to Pembrokeshire in the West, horses
:01:27. > :01:32.are causing chaos. -- from Newport. I have been investigating the
:01:32. > :01:38.problem of stray, abandoned and dumbed Welsh gypsy cobs since the
:01:38. > :01:42.beginning of this year. I am going to find out here is involved and
:01:42. > :01:51.what is being done to tackle it. This is where it all began, in the
:01:51. > :01:55.January and more than 30 horses are desperately searching for food.
:01:55. > :02:03.There is virtually no grass left, and they resorted to eating young
:02:03. > :02:06.trees. Some do not make it. They have been dumped on land owned by
:02:06. > :02:11.the Woodland Trust near Wick in the Vale of Glamorgan, by an
:02:11. > :02:17.unidentified owner. This has been dubbed fly-grazing. And it was not
:02:17. > :02:23.a one-off. Days later, I was reporting from Cosmeston, where
:02:23. > :02:26.more animals had been abandoned on council land. One of the hotspots
:02:26. > :02:32.for fly-grazing and horses wandering around, looking for food
:02:32. > :02:42.wherever they can find it, he is here in the Bridgend area. Keep
:02:42. > :02:45.
:02:45. > :02:49.still. Keep still. Stay, U2. This video was captured in the Cefn Glas
:02:49. > :02:54.estate in Bridgend. Nearby, at Bryntirion Comprehensive School,
:02:55. > :02:57.horses are a constant concern. These are horses often find their
:02:57. > :03:02.way on to school grans, causing what we have been told his
:03:02. > :03:09.thousands of pounds worth of damage. And the mix of wild animals and
:03:09. > :03:14.children spells danger. We have just seen a group of 11 horses who
:03:14. > :03:18.have been galloped out of the school grounds here by some people
:03:18. > :03:25.who have turned up after a call to tell them they were on the school
:03:25. > :03:33.grounds. We are now pursuing them up the road in Bryntirion, up the
:03:33. > :03:37.main high-street, through a built- up area. The horses managed to find
:03:37. > :03:42.their way back on to the school grounds. Then the two people
:03:43. > :03:50.involved in rounding them up stop to challenge us. You all right?
:03:50. > :03:55.are filming the horses. You are with the horses. Bit unusual.
:03:55. > :04:02.saw you trying to round them up. You are not rounding them up? I
:04:02. > :04:07.thought you were. The driver of the 4x4 is Tony Price,
:04:07. > :04:13.the son of one of the biggest horse breeders in the UK. His name, Tom
:04:13. > :04:17.Price, will crop up again in my investigations. The head teacher is
:04:17. > :04:24.so concerned with the problem he is meeting with the Bridgend M P
:04:24. > :04:31.Madeleine Moon. Yesterday -- he estimates the cost to the school
:04:31. > :04:34.due to the horses at �50,000. could have used the money to
:04:34. > :04:37.improve the school environment. Horses get onto the playing field
:04:37. > :04:43.so often that sports day was cancelled last year and rugby
:04:43. > :04:49.lessons are regularly called off. Horses tend to come here, through
:04:49. > :04:55.the front gates, and are here, three, four, 5, 6, 7 horses at a
:04:55. > :05:02.time. The children went quietly towards the horses and one day they
:05:02. > :05:06.will no doubt be kicked. We have horse owners who are irresponsibly
:05:06. > :05:12.cherry-picking where they can drop off and just deposit their horses
:05:12. > :05:15.in fields, often late at night, 11:00pm, 12:00pm at night, and
:05:15. > :05:24.people wake up and suddenly they have a new problem in the community,
:05:24. > :05:28.of a large, wild and uncontrolled horses. It does not take us long to
:05:28. > :05:37.find more horses. This time they have been wandering on a road just
:05:37. > :05:43.a mile from the school. We have come down here to brand them up and
:05:43. > :05:51.send them back. We have to get a barrier out and hopefully keep them
:05:51. > :05:55.out. They are causing a problem for motorists? Yes. They have been all
:05:55. > :05:59.over here. Nobody quite knows the scale of the
:05:59. > :06:03.problem, but it is estimated hundreds, possibly thousands of
:06:03. > :06:10.forces, across South Wales and West Wales, which are allowed to roam
:06:10. > :06:16.freely, causing all manner of mayhem. -- thousands of horses. He
:06:16. > :06:21.has been going on for the years but it appears to have got to much
:06:21. > :06:29.worse misery. Last year for example, we could expect 25 incidents per
:06:29. > :06:34.month. They were predominantly be of an animal welfare nature. Last
:06:34. > :06:37.month, 497 incidents. Part of that would be because we have responded
:06:37. > :06:42.positively, engage with our communities.
:06:42. > :06:46.There are reasons why this seems to be getting worse now. Keeping
:06:46. > :06:50.Daedalus Airfield is the expensive and fewer people are buying them,
:06:50. > :06:58.driving the values down. They need to have passports and microchips
:06:58. > :07:03.and that is adding to the already costly business of owning a horse.
:07:03. > :07:08.One of the reasons why this has been so difficult to resolve is
:07:08. > :07:13.because so many agencies are involved. Local authorities, the
:07:13. > :07:18.police, the RSPCA, governments in Wales and England, all with
:07:18. > :07:23.different responsibilities and it all cost money. Who is going to pay
:07:23. > :07:28.back cost? What we cannot allow to continue to happen is that it is
:07:28. > :07:31.the taxpayer. We have to find a more efficient and effective way.
:07:32. > :07:36.Aware of being able to trace the animals back to their owners and
:07:36. > :07:42.making those owners accountable, in courts, and paying the fines that
:07:42. > :07:45.they should be paying to dissuade them from carrying on his way.
:07:45. > :07:51.addition to the enforcement costs two authorities, it is also
:07:52. > :07:57.charities who have to bear the burden and help pick up the pieces.
:07:57. > :08:04.This is one of the lucky ones. He wrote, in fine health now, but only
:08:04. > :08:07.after a massive and costly rescue operation in Newport. -- Hero.
:08:07. > :08:13.There was absolutely nothing in the field for them to eat and they were
:08:13. > :08:16.very hungry. There were 35 of them. We decided to take some hay down
:08:16. > :08:21.just so they were not too hungry and whilst we were there, one of
:08:21. > :08:28.the girls with this came rushing, quick, quick, there is a force in a
:08:28. > :08:33.ditch. And they're sure enough was the poor horse in the water with a
:08:33. > :08:37.barbed wire tangled around its legs. So we called the fire brigade
:08:37. > :08:42.because we could not get it out. It was too big for us. When we got him
:08:42. > :08:45.out, we did not think he was going to live. He just lay there. We
:08:45. > :08:51.managed to get him going and got him on his feet and into our
:08:52. > :08:57.trailer. While we are filming and the charity's farm in Mahmut Schep,
:08:57. > :09:02.a call asking for help comes in. There is a two-to-three months old
:09:02. > :09:06.foal that they cannot trace the mother. It is in a field with some
:09:06. > :09:11.other mares that are stopping it from eating. The bet has been
:09:11. > :09:16.called out and the bet has signed it over to the council. -- are the
:09:16. > :09:20.vet. So now the council has asked if we will collect it because it
:09:20. > :09:24.will not survive where it is. 18 from the charity set off to try
:09:24. > :09:31.to rescue the foal and they invite us to join them.
:09:31. > :09:41.But will they succeed? It is not only charities you have
:09:41. > :09:41.
:09:41. > :09:44.to bear the cost. This is Tremorfa Park. It backs onto the scrubland
:09:44. > :09:49.outside Rover Way. Local councils are spending hundreds of thousands
:09:49. > :09:55.to try to tackle this, and in Cardiff Bay have employed Wales'
:09:55. > :10:00.first wards warden. How did you get in here? The council have just
:10:00. > :10:05.spent a fortune on new fencing. I should go and see if he's going to
:10:05. > :10:08.be approachable. The horse should not be here, and loses suspects it
:10:09. > :10:18.has been deliberately placed here to praise and does not have their
:10:19. > :10:19.
:10:19. > :10:22.registered owner. Shall we find out. Oh, make a call to run the station
:10:22. > :10:29.to let them know that it has been seized, where it has been seized
:10:29. > :10:33.from. -- to run the station. If an owner comes forward, there is a
:10:33. > :10:37.fine to pay but they can have it back as long as they can prove it
:10:37. > :10:41.is theirs with a hauls passport. If not, we will go down the road of
:10:41. > :10:47.looking for another cause for him. Lucy has called the police for
:10:47. > :10:53.back-up but before the horse is removed, she wants to check if its
:10:53. > :10:58.owner is in the area. The higher. Have you got a passport for it?
:10:58. > :11:06.but I can get one. This caused is actually being seized by a quarter
:11:06. > :11:13.of cancer. -- by Cardiff Council. It is not allowed to be on the spot.
:11:13. > :11:21.Now, it is my horse. The horse is led away by a young man claiming to
:11:21. > :11:28.be its owner. Lucy calls the police again to find out where they are.
:11:28. > :11:33.At the end of the day, I cannot fight them. Again, if the issue
:11:33. > :11:37.with the police is that they just do not respond, time after time.
:11:37. > :11:45.However, they have just said they are going to send a unit out now,
:11:45. > :11:50.which is a bit late. Cardiff Castle spent about �100,000 every year on
:11:50. > :11:55.tackling their horse problem. -- Cardiff Castle Spence. They believe
:11:55. > :12:02.they are winning. But in other areas it is still causing concern,
:12:02. > :12:07.like here in the Vale of Glamorgan. Damage to this community would --
:12:07. > :12:12.wood in Wick has been estimated at between �5,000 and �10,000 since
:12:12. > :12:16.the beginning of the year. Clearly, the horses were eating everything
:12:16. > :12:21.they could get hold of while they were here. When they finished the
:12:22. > :12:25.grass, they started to eat the trees. The Woodland Trust put up a
:12:25. > :12:29.14 Day abandonment notice, which meant the horses' owners had to
:12:29. > :12:35.remove the animals with in two weeks or they could be re-homed,
:12:36. > :12:39.sold or put to sleep. All of the sanctuaries were formed. No one
:12:39. > :12:45.would accept them. We were faced with the prospect of having to have
:12:45. > :12:55.these beautiful animals destroyed. But shortly after the notice ran
:12:55. > :12:57.
:12:57. > :13:01.out, the horses was spirited away Fly-grazing, when horses are placed
:13:01. > :13:08.on private land, effectively allowing the animals to eat for
:13:08. > :13:13.free, is not a new phenomenon. When he is not leading the Conservatives
:13:13. > :13:17.in the National Assembly, Andrew Davies farms hundreds of acres in
:13:17. > :13:22.the Vale of Glamorgan. A couple of years ago, he was the victim of
:13:22. > :13:26.fly-grazing, too. The was by chance that we saw them quite early on on
:13:26. > :13:30.the property and we were able to take action. If they had been there
:13:30. > :13:33.any length of time, they could have been on the main arterial road
:13:33. > :13:38.between Cardiff and Bridgend, or they could have broken into a
:13:38. > :13:41.residential property and caused considerable damage. Being the
:13:41. > :13:45.owners of the land that the livestock would have come from,
:13:45. > :13:49.ironically we would have been responsible. He says problems
:13:49. > :13:59.caused by horses have been going on for years and he says it is time
:13:59. > :13:59.
:14:00. > :14:04.something was done to tackle it We have seen pictures on the TV of
:14:04. > :14:08.horses dead in fields, horses in very poor condition. This is
:14:08. > :14:13.something here in the 21st century we shouldn't allow to continue.
:14:13. > :14:17.Dozens of horses were illegally dumped on land here next to Cardiff
:14:17. > :14:21.Airport. There are even reports of fly-grazing on this round-about,
:14:21. > :14:27.causing an obvious for motorists. The problem became so acute that
:14:27. > :14:31.the Vale of Glamorgan Council had to round up 68 of them, that were
:14:31. > :14:36.then transported to various imagine welfare charities across the UK.
:14:36. > :14:43.And this is where 23 of those horses ended up, nearly 300 miles
:14:43. > :14:47.away at Redwings Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk. There is a whole host
:14:47. > :14:54.of things that can spread from horse to horse. What we're keen to
:14:54. > :14:58.do is to protect our horses from the unknown. Nick is going to show
:14:58. > :15:04.me those horses brought here. ponies are very young, around about
:15:04. > :15:08.six years of age, some younger, some older. Generally, horses are
:15:08. > :15:11.suckling from their mother at six months of age. In my opinion these
:15:11. > :15:16.guys are too young to be in that field. Sadly, there were three of
:15:16. > :15:21.them that were not really going to cope with the journeys to the
:15:21. > :15:24.various charities. They were sort of succumbing to respiratory
:15:24. > :15:29.conditions which sadly necessitated us - the only humane act we could
:15:29. > :15:33.do for them was to put them to sleep. To my mind as a welfare
:15:33. > :15:40.person, that's where I think this owner has a big chunk on their
:15:40. > :15:46.conscience. But proving exactly who the owner is is a headache for
:15:46. > :15:51.everyone involved in trying to combat this issue. It is a big
:15:51. > :15:54.challenge for us and the local authorities to actually effectively
:15:54. > :16:00.enforce it because it's resource intensive for what's at the moment
:16:00. > :16:06.seen as a relatively low priority. The law says all horses over six
:16:06. > :16:11.months old must have a passport, and since 2009, they must also be
:16:11. > :16:17.microchipped - all of which adds to the expense of keeping the horses.
:16:17. > :16:21.Hello? Yeah, yeah, I'm there now. Since I started investigating this
:16:21. > :16:25.issue, the phone hasn't stopped ringing with concerned people
:16:25. > :16:29.telling us the problem is getting worse, and they feel nothing is
:16:29. > :16:34.being done to tackle it. There are an Army of animal lovers on the
:16:34. > :16:41.internet. They use sites such as Facebook to alert one another about
:16:41. > :16:46.animals in distress and those that have been dumped on private land.
:16:46. > :16:50.Heather Hooley helped set up one such site, and she's critical of
:16:50. > :16:56.the lack of action by the authorities. They need to prove the
:16:56. > :17:01.ownership of those horses. They can do it by CCTV. It can be done with
:17:01. > :17:05.minimum manpower. They choose to just mop it up and actually deny
:17:05. > :17:13.that there is an issue, and yet there you are with these large
:17:13. > :17:18.horses in children's play areas on housing estates - herds of hundreds,
:17:18. > :17:23.hard to find, moved around at night, risk the public. It's a wonder
:17:23. > :17:29.nobody has been killed yet, and maybe, sadly, when that does happen,
:17:29. > :17:33.then they will confront the issues. Heather sees no future for the
:17:33. > :17:40.stray horses that are all over South Wales. Where are they going
:17:40. > :17:45.to end up? They will end up as dog food. It has devalued a once
:17:45. > :17:50.sought-after breed. They are now no more than pet food on hoofs.
:17:50. > :18:00.Another member of the Facebook group has been filming the plight
:18:00. > :18:00.
:18:00. > :18:03.of a group of fly-grazing horses in organ, only a few metres from where
:18:03. > :18:11.the council rounded up horses last month, including those that ended
:18:11. > :18:14.up at the Redwing Sanctuary. These were the ponies that were dumped in
:18:14. > :18:20.Ruse just over two weeks ago. They're getting worse every day now.
:18:20. > :18:25.They have had hay twice from the RSPCA but they're still eating it,
:18:25. > :18:28.even though most horses would turn their noses up at it. The woman,
:18:28. > :18:35.who doesn't want to be identified, has been concerned about the
:18:35. > :18:42.welfare of a number of the horses here. The condition is quite poor
:18:42. > :18:52.now, and she's starting to look quite bony around the pelvis. And
:18:52. > :18:56.
:18:56. > :19:01.you can see this one is coughing few days now. It's gotten worse, so
:19:01. > :19:06.he's going to have to be seen to. The RSPCA did remove the foal that
:19:06. > :19:10.was coughing and a number of the other horses from the field in Ruse,
:19:10. > :19:18.but the future for the rest of the animals is uncertain.
:19:18. > :19:22.Why are so many horses - and they nearly always seem to be Welsh
:19:22. > :19:29.gypsy Cobs being abandoned on land to fly graze or being left to roam
:19:29. > :19:33.for themselves? Come on, boy. Francis takes in rescued horses at
:19:33. > :19:38.his farm in Pembrokeshire. He works closely with the gypsy community
:19:38. > :19:44.and says those who trade in horses have been hit hard by the recession.
:19:44. > :19:50.A year ago they could sell, having passported and microchipped them,
:19:50. > :19:56.they could sell them at a profit at any of the marts. But now they're
:19:56. > :20:05.not worth the petrol to take them there. You can buy a yearling colt
:20:05. > :20:08.of most breeds for ten guineas. Which is a ridiculous situation.
:20:08. > :20:12.Francis says horse breeders need to take a much more responsible
:20:12. > :20:16.attitude to their business. Until people stop this breeding for
:20:16. > :20:26.breeding's sake, hoping the market is going to be there, this problem
:20:26. > :20:30.
:20:30. > :20:34.We're back with the horse rescuers, and they've arrived here in the
:20:34. > :20:38.Vale of Glamorgan. You know, we have an injured one - it's a foal,
:20:38. > :20:43.and the mother can't be located at the moment. The police have also
:20:43. > :20:46.been called to assist. Sometimes some of the owners will turn up,
:20:46. > :20:51.and they're not happy about their horses being seized. We're here to
:20:51. > :20:57.prevent a breach of the peace and basically make sure that everything
:20:58. > :21:03.carries on smoothly. The young foal is caught and given a quick check-
:21:03. > :21:12.up. He's very thin, isn't he? can feel his spine there. Yeah,
:21:12. > :21:17.yeah. We need to get him back to base. This often indicates worms.
:21:17. > :21:23.The foal was found to be riddled with worms and lice and was very
:21:23. > :21:28.thin. A major horse breeder, Tom Price, admits to keeping horses
:21:28. > :21:32.here, but says they don't all belong to him, including Wellie.
:21:32. > :21:37.Just a few days before we filmed here, people working for Mr Price
:21:37. > :21:41.turned up at 10.00pm at night. Mr Price admits they moved 15 horses
:21:41. > :21:45.from this field. He says he moved the animals at night because it was
:21:45. > :21:49.the only time a contractor was available. He says he wanted to
:21:49. > :21:57.move them as his lease had ended. We understand that arrangement
:21:57. > :22:02.ended 18 months ago. Wellie, the foal, will be taken to
:22:02. > :22:09.the Redwings charity in Norfolk and hopefully nursed back to good
:22:09. > :22:14.health. She could be rehomed or may have to live at the sanctuary. With
:22:14. > :22:19.so many animal welfare concerns from members of the public and from
:22:19. > :22:23.charities, there's been criticism that more isn't being done to help.
:22:23. > :22:28.Animal welfare is the responsibility of both local
:22:28. > :22:35.authorities and the RSPCA, who last year investigated nearly 2,000
:22:35. > :22:40.complaints involving horses in Wales, and many had been fly-grazed.
:22:40. > :22:46.The mere fact that a horse is being ply-grazed is not a reason for the
:22:46. > :22:50.RSPCA to pick the animal up. The RSPCA will come in, and we'll offer
:22:50. > :22:54.advice to horse owners. We will help the horse owners. It's only in
:22:54. > :22:57.a very small minority of cases where we'd look at taking further
:22:57. > :23:03.action, but in the vast majority of those 2,000 cases, there was no
:23:03. > :23:12.need for the RSPCA to step in and take ownership or responsibility
:23:12. > :23:16.for the animal. One name which keeps cropping up more than any
:23:16. > :23:20.other during my investigations is Tom Price. He runs a large
:23:20. > :23:28.operation based in the Vale of Glamorgan exporting animals all
:23:28. > :23:33.over the world. His website says he has 1,500 hoarses. Some experts
:23:33. > :23:37.estimate he now has many more. He has been lauded by some people who
:23:37. > :23:43.describe him as the most respected gypsy horse breeder in the world
:23:43. > :23:45.and the King of gypsy horses. People who are helping to tackling
:23:45. > :23:50.the horse problem in South Wales have told us about their
:23:50. > :23:53.involvement with Tom Price. I have known him for a long time. I did
:23:53. > :23:59.try and help earlier in the year when he did actually admit he had
:23:59. > :24:03.too many horses and needed to find homes for them. I said I'd try and
:24:03. > :24:09.help him. When he discovered it wasn't going to be coming through
:24:09. > :24:14.our society, it was just people that were kind enough to take them
:24:14. > :24:17.on, the fact that they'd be sold eventually, he got cross and said
:24:17. > :24:21.he wouldn't do it, which was sad. Remember this driver and his
:24:21. > :24:27.colleague we met earlier? The driver is Tom Price's son Tony. The
:24:27. > :24:32.two were rounding up horses at the school. Mr Price admits keeping
:24:32. > :24:37.horses in the area, and says he did assist and take them to a place of
:24:37. > :24:42.safety. As it turned out they weren't his horses. We wanted to
:24:42. > :24:46.speak to Mr Price, but he refused. Instead, he gave us a statement
:24:46. > :24:51.saying he's a responsible horse owner. He says he had become the
:24:51. > :24:58.focus of a number of false and misleading accusation, and he says
:24:58. > :25:06.he's not the only owner of horses in the area but he does look after
:25:06. > :25:10.his horses well. Back in Cardiff, and they believe
:25:10. > :25:15.they are making a difference. There's always going to be horses
:25:15. > :25:21.in Cardiff. That's - you know, the problem is never going to go away.
:25:21. > :25:28.What we seem to have at the moment is a more manageable number of
:25:28. > :25:33.horses in the county. Horse warden Lucy and the council were involved
:25:33. > :25:37.in 152 horse seizures in Cardiff last year, and for the second time
:25:37. > :25:46.today, she's going to investigate concerns that horses are on land
:25:46. > :25:52.where they shouldn't be. This is known as Westfield Park. It backs
:25:52. > :25:56.on to an estate the other side where there is legitimate grazing
:25:56. > :26:04.rights there. However, we obviously have an issue with horses on the
:26:04. > :26:07.park, which we just can't have. Lucy suspects they have been
:26:07. > :26:13.deliberately placed here, and she plans to take steps to seize the
:26:13. > :26:19.animals. But just then, for the second time today, someone turns up
:26:19. > :26:24.and moves them on. Essentially all he's doing is pushing the horses to
:26:24. > :26:28.the other end of the park. There is no access point over there. Yes, we
:26:28. > :26:33.have days like this where it is extremely frustrating. However, in
:26:33. > :26:37.the last couple of years, we have done significant seizures. You know,
:26:37. > :26:42.the owners of these horses are fully aware of our capabilities
:26:42. > :26:49.when it comes to picking up large numbers of horses and responding to
:26:49. > :26:53.a problem. So Cardiff believe they are getting to grips with their
:26:53. > :27:00.horse problem, but what about areas experiencing problems almost on a
:27:00. > :27:06.daily basis? A task force has been set up to tackle the huge rise in
:27:06. > :27:09.calls about horses. Our message is clear to equine owners - be a
:27:09. > :27:13.responsible owner. If they're on the highway, we'll take them off
:27:13. > :27:23.you. If we take them off you and you want them back, it will cost
:27:23. > :27:24.
:27:24. > :27:29.The police and councils' new strategy involves rounding up stray
:27:29. > :27:33.horses, taking them to a secure compound and charging the horses'
:27:33. > :27:37.owners �200 to reclaim them, if they can prove ownership. But
:27:37. > :27:41.already that has run into problems. The stray horses that are rounded
:27:41. > :27:45.up are brought here to this supposedly secure area, but the
:27:45. > :27:48.other night under cover of darkness, six of those animals were removed.
:27:48. > :27:52.Even the police can't get a handle on this. These guys are coming in
:27:52. > :27:56.the dead of night and taking their horses back. No, I don't think it's
:27:56. > :28:00.a case the police can't get a handle on this. As I say, our issue
:28:00. > :28:05.is about public safety, and whenever there is that issue, the
:28:05. > :28:09.police will go. Solving the big, expensive gypsy horse problem won't
:28:09. > :28:13.be easy. Just a few days ago we filmed the authorities trying to
:28:13. > :28:20.round up dozens of horses near Bridgend, but there were so many to
:28:20. > :28:24.remove that horses continued to roam around the main roads in this
:28:24. > :28:29.town and people's gardens. While there does seem to be a new
:28:29. > :28:32.conviction to tackle this, there are calls for more leadership.
:28:32. > :28:37.believe the Minister in the Welsh Government needs to act on this,
:28:37. > :28:40.given that animal welfare powers are devolved to the Assembly, so he
:28:40. > :28:45.has the position to call all stake holders together and say, what is
:28:45. > :28:48.it you want? Is it you want better coordination? Or is it you want
:28:48. > :28:52.better powers to make sure you can respond to the concerns of people
:28:52. > :28:56.about the welfare of animals? Welsh Government says it doesn't
:28:56. > :29:01.believe there needs to be any changes to the laws, but others
:29:01. > :29:04.insist the current legislation must be more rigorously enforced.
:29:04. > :29:12.view is that criminal offences have been committed here, clearly, from
:29:12. > :29:16.criminal damage to failing to abide by the passport regulations,
:29:16. > :29:20.possibly microchipping. We believe that no-one should be above the law.
:29:20. > :29:25.And tonight with the problem now at crisis point, there are fears
:29:25. > :29:28.drastic measures could follow. you are talking about a thousand
:29:28. > :29:32.horses suddenly finding themselves without an owner, one solution