Foal stolen from mom discovered 300 miles from residence

A two-month-old Shetland pony foal which was stolen from its mom has been discovered 5 weeks later, greater than 300 miles (483km) away.

Lucy was taken from farmland near Allet between 11 and 12 July, leaving proprietor Jean Curd extraordinarily involved concerning the foal’s well being since she had been reliant on her mom’s milk. She added Lucy’s mom Nancy had been “really distraught”.

Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed officers had discovered Lucy at a caravan park in Hertfordshire on 21 August after receiving info from a member of the general public.

The chestnut skewbald foal was reunited together with her mom the identical day and investigations of the theft had been nonetheless below approach, the drive added.

Sgt Alex Winning, of Hertfordshire Police’s rural operational assist staff, was among the many officers that discovered Lucy.

He mentioned: “We were lucky enough to have a piece of anonymous intelligence come to us via Devon and Cornwall Police.

“We acted on it instantly, received just a few officers and myself out to the location that had been recognized and put a drone up above it to see if we may discover Lucy.

“Very quickly we found her and identified her by her markings and size.

“She was in an OK situation, ever so barely skinny and just a little little bit of a cough however I used to be pleasantly shocked allowing for she had been away from her mom for a month and would not have had milk and people vitamins.”

He said police thought she had been taken to Hertfordshire in a van which would have been “very traumatic” for the young foal.

Ms Curd mentioned: “It does shake you to the core… I do not know why anyone would’ve taken her.

“I was desperately worried about Lucy because she was so young – I never thought she was going to live.

“She was so small, clearly younger, [there was] a robust probability that she wasn’t going to dwell.”

When she was found, Ms Curd said: “I could not imagine it – there was nonetheless that feeling of it will probably’t actually be her once I noticed the images, but it surely was.

“She trotted in, started feeding and I thought ‘she’s going to do it, she’ll be OK’.”