Stolen foal ‘faces certain death’

A TWO-month-old rare foal faces certain death unless she is returned to her mother, its owner has warned.

It was one of four Falabella foals stolen from a children’s animal farm in Dublin and their owner, Janet Ball, has begged whoever stole them to return them “no questions asked”.

The gang left one foal behind, but the mothers of the other four are “whinnying constantly”.

Ms Ball’s primary concern is for the youngest pony, a filly who is not weaned and is still on her mother’s milk.

“She needs her mother’s or powdered milk and not having this is quite likely to eat something hard and die,” she said.

The Falabella are miniature Argentinean horses and will only grow to be 73cm high or the same size as an Irish wolfhound.

This is the second time animals have been stolen from the family-run Reynolds Animal Farm in the Naul in north Co Dublin.

The last time the ponies were found in Coolock, Dublin.

“I am asking whoever came in the middle of the night and stole them to come back in the middle of the night and put them back. That’s all I want,” said Ms Ball.

She last saw the foals just after 7pm on Sunday and when she checked them at 8am yesterday they were gone and there was evidence somebody had driven a horse box up the lane to the family farm.

This was the first year the family had been successful in breeding any of the Falabella stock and Ms Ball warned that they may be small “and they may be used to seeing children with buckets feeding other animals but they don’t like adults”.

Anyone with information can contact her on 01-8412615.