Ban Pony Painting Parties

I sounded off about the awful Pony Painting Parties on Monday on my Facebook Page - which seems to have contributed a little to getting the word out that these need to be stopped.

As the petition points out (my bold)

The 2006 Animal Welfare Act says that owners have a positive duty of care towards their animals and a responsibility to prevent the animal from becoming distressed. Animals have ways of communicating distress - horses show stress signs through swishing, flared nostrils, raised tail, sweating and a raised heartbeat. These subtle signals are not obvious to families/children and could even be ignored by organisers who are prioritising profits.

The issue for me is about

• showing respect for animals who are not in a position to say 'No' (remind you of anything?).
• reminding people that anything that makes a profit can also be taken up by those who behave in ways which are very much less than ethical
• how come we can have laws and nothing is done about their implementation?

The good news is that the petition is now up to nearly 160,000 signatures (from about c.25,000 signatures on Monday when I signed).  I'm really not surprised given some of the comments from those who read my post on Monday.

Signed. I’m staggered by this. Appalling

This is so sad that people think this is fun. I doubt it’s fun for the pony who has no choice in the matter. The UK really needs tougher animal laws on all levels !

that is awful, what a way to teach children how to treat and respect animals.

I have horses, and there's no way anyone is getting near them with paint. This is just stupidity, and no respect for the animal, and apparently no desire to actually learn something about horses. In other hands it can escalate to abuse - there was a case at an auction place where a poor pony was dropped off, after being used as a paint gun target, hundreds of shots taken at him. Someone was eventually charged.

O fer heaven's sake. I try so hard to teach children to RESPECT and VALUE animals - what lamebrain thought this was OK?

Interestingly the number of signatures to dare way exceeds some of those petitions already debated by Parliament eg Hold a referendum on the final Brexit deal!

Petition to Parliament

This is the link to the Petition to Ban Pony Painting Parties if you'd like to sign as well.

The rules on Petitions to Parliament are that:

• if a petition gets 10,000 signatures then the petition will get a response from the government
• if a petition gets 100,000 signatures then it will get a debate in Parliament

...and this one will be getting a debate in Parliament.

BUT - and this is important - the actions of politicians will depend on how many people sign it before it gets to the debate!

Hopefully at some point somebody will also think it a good idea to point out to parents that:

• grooming a pony is a very good and appropriate way to show you love your pony
• there are lots of art teachers out there who are very happy to give their kids painting lessons - without disrespecting dumb animals!

More about pony painting parties

If you doubt these are happening, here's the news coverage - all written before the petition topped 100,000 signatures supporting it

• BBC News - Pony painting parties: The summer's big trend that's causing controversy
• The Guardian - Pony painting parties: is it really OK to let kids daub paint on live animals?
• Evening Standard - Animal rights petition to ban bizarre 'pony painting' craze receives 60,000 signatures