Target: Duarte Cordeiro, Minister of Environment and Climate Action for Portugal
Goal: Preserve populations of Garrano ponies to ensure health and long-term survival.
Portugal’s iconic Garrano ponies are in dire straits. The animals are facing imminent threats from habitat loss and from unrelenting predators like Iberian wolves. Recent estimates put the number of young foal deaths from these predators at over 70 percent.
If these ponies (both domesticated and wild) disappear, Portugal will be losing a cherished environmental icon. The loss would also hurt local ecosystems. Advocates believe that more public outreach about the value of the ponies for certain domesticated roles would help boost efforts to safeguard them. More actions to help the animals give birth to the next generation safely would also be a great help.
Sign the petition below to encourage a full plan of action to save these irreplaceable natural wonders.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Minister Cordeiro,
Conservationists have stressed that losing Portugal’s Garrano ponies would be equivalent to sacrificing a cultural icon. These animals play an integral role in well-balanced and thriving ecosystems. But as their work purposes have been downplayed, so have efforts to rescue the ponies from predatory threats and other dangers to their long-term survival.
Please heed the warnings of conservationists and make the preservation of these animals (and a renewed public focus on their potential) a top priority. And to ensure their numbers grow, invest in efforts to give these ponies a safe haven for birthing and nurturing the next generation.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Joao Manuel Lemos
