Pony dragged to corner of an English field and hidden under tarpaulin to die

The RSPCA is appealing for information after a malnourished pony was dragged across a Surrey field and left to die, hidden under a tarpaulin. The animal welfare charity was alerted to the plight of the foal after it was seen collapsed by a gate in Thameside near Chertsey, Surrey. When RSPCA inspector Nicky Thorne arrived, it had gone. He was told the horse had been dragged across the field and abandoned out of sight of the road. "When I heard about it being dragged I expected to find a dead body but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see, even after years in this job," Thorne said. "There was a tarpaulin which was covered in logs and stones and as I pulled it back there was a pony, weak, barely alive and terrified, just dumped under a plastic sheet and left to die in the dark with his front legs strapped together and his head twisted around over his back where it had flopped as he was dragged and he was too weak to move it back to a comfortable position himself." The RSPCA made the pony as comfortable as possible by keeping him warm and dry with blankets but he died. A post-mortem found the six-month-old pony had diarrhoea, was dehydrated and had a worm infestation which could have been treated for £5. The charity is appealing for information to identify those responsible for the foal. Thorne said: "I cannot even try to comprehend the terror and pain that poor creature must have endured being dragged across the field, covered over and left in the darkness, his weak body tied up and twisted."