N.L. group using DNA testing to identify critically endangered ponies

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A Newfoundland group is using science to track down a rare, critically endangered pony.

The province’s Pony Society is offering DNA testing for people who have Newfoundland ponies, or suspect they have one, to identify if they are purebred.

One of the oldest known living Newfoundland ponies — a dame named Mudder — was found emaciated and working at a children’s riding stable in Quebec earlier this year.

DNA testing confirmed she was Baytona Star #228, a registered Newfoundland pony whose whereabouts had been unknown for years.

The pony was rescued and adopted by a family just outside Ottawa, where the society says she is receiving “excellent care.”

The Newfoundland pony is listed as critically endangered, but were once plentiful in Newfoundland and an essential part of the province’s cultural life until the advent of all-terrain vehicles.

(VOCM)