Facebook friends rally up and find lost little ponies
A RELIEVED pony owner has praised the horse community who rallied round to help find her missing Shetland ponies.
Zeinab Salem was distraught when mother and foal Libby and Daisy disappeared from her parents’ paddock in Station Road, Holton-le-Clay, on Wednesday night.
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Reunited: Zeinab Salem and her niece, Lilly Melbourne, 3, with their Shetland ponies, Daisy, left, and Libby, which have been found safe and well. Buy this photo at www.thisis photosales .co.uk/grimsby
Convinced they had been stolen, she contacted Lincolnshire Police and put a desperate plea on social networking website Facebook for their safe return.
It was answered with vigour and within three hours of the first post, both ponies had been found safe and well in a field in North Thoresby, four miles away.
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Zeinab thought they had been stolen because the paddock fence posts had been moved by two metres, and the pair had never wandered so far away before.
And although police are no longer treating it as a crime, Zeinab remains suspicious.
The 30-year-old said: “After I posted it on Facebook, it got around really quickly and before I knew it I was getting text messages and phone calls from people who thought they had seen them.
“If it wasn’t for Facebook, I wouldn’t have found them. Everyone has been so good and I am just so relieved and happy they are safe.
“The fence was moved and I know my ponies wouldn’t walk that far away from their field.”
Libby and Daisy – a Palomino – belong to Zeinab’s three-year-old neice, Lilly , who loves to play with them.
Zeinab’s fears were made worse after discovering another horse owner’s fence had been tampered with, although those horses had not escaped.
Frantic with worry, she contacted vets, horse shows and a horse-microchipping organisation to alert them.
It is unclear what exactly happened; it is thought they were found in the road by a farmer, who took them to his field in North Thoresby to keep them safe.
Zeinab also posted pictures of the ponies, valued at £600 each, on Facebook, which was picked up by a friend of a friend who remembered seeing them in the field.
She drove there in her trailer and returned them to Zeinab and a very happy Lilly.
Zeinab continued: “I am ever so touched by people’s actions. Lilly was so upset when they were missing, especially as she saw me crying.
“They are lovely and Lilly plays with them in the field all the time. Daisy chases her around. It is really sweet.
“It is such a relief to get them back and I am so grateful to everyone who helped”
She also praised the police, who arrived as soon as they received her 7am call, adding: “The police were fantastic.
“I didn’t think they would come out for a couple of ponies but they came straight away. It was really good and reassuring to know.”
A spokesperson for Lincolnshire Police said: “We received reports of a theft of two Shetland ponies from Holton-le-Clay.
“Their whereabouts was quickly established and it is not believed any offences have been committed.”
Comments
by respectmania
Friday, September 28 2012, 12:41PM
“Really Really pleased that the ponies were found ,however that same night facebook was also used to rally a community together to go out on the streets searching grimsby cleethorpes and immingham looking for a ten year old boy who had been missing since 3pm many people were driving around till 5am searching for the young child who turned up safe at 8am another good news story of a community and facebook working together”