British horses and ponies could once again be exported live from the UK to face a long, uncertain journey to their death in Europe. We must act now to stop it.

A British law that has prevented our ponies from being exported alive for slaughter for more than 67 years looks as though it could well be lost, just because it isn't currently included in the proposal for a new EU regulation on the transport of animals.

I am supporting the International League for the Protection of Horses' campaign to pressurise the Government and the European Parliament to stop the resumption of the live traffic. Their on-line petition (www.ilph.org) and paper petition are due to close at the end of February and will be presented to the European Parliament in March before they present their report to the European Commission. We must now write to our MPs so that they, in turn, can pressurise the Government to act to protect our horses and ponies.

We must act now to stop our horses and ponies suffering long, tortuous journeys to their deaths in foreign abbatoirs.

-Madeleine Connell, Coldean