An Ammanford woman is campaigning for residents to stop discarding their waste in the Black Mountains as it is causing serious harm to the livestock in the community.

Helen Jones, of Jones Equine Training Service, is aiming to educate people who have little knowledge about the consequences of feeding animals. 

The self-employed business owner said: “I travel over the Black Mountains every day to get to work and I always look out at the livestock that inhabits in the mountain, but I am seeing the result of fly tipping on too many occasions.”

It was on a recent journey to work that enraged Helen enough to speak out about the issue.

“Last week I came across nine Welsh Cobs gorging themselves on something that was in blue recycling bags,” she said.

“When I got closer, I realised there were three bags of lawn grass cuttings abandoned in the mountains.

“A cow lost her life on this mountain around 18 months ago due to someone dumping hedge cutting.”

Grass cuttings are believed to be dangerous for horses as it starts to heat up quickly which can have fatal consequences for the animals.

Helen added: “Due to the grass being so shortly cut, horses don’t chew as much to break it up and don’t mix the food with saliva, which in turn would neutralise both the heating of the grass and reduce the gasses it releases.

“This grass then continues to heat along its route of digestion and the gasses build up. Since horses neither have the ability to vomit or burp, the grass and gas has nowhere to go which can result in the rupturing of the gut which is irreversible and fatal.

“This can lead to excruciating pain and often death.”

Helen believes that the issue of fly tipping needs to be addressed by the authorities.

“I am seeing builder’s bags along with domestic bags full of cuttings, general waste and building materials strewn on the mountain on a regular basis,” she said.

“This rubbish doesn’t simply disappear and the livestock are those being most affected.”

“The owner feeds these ponies every single day and has been made aware of the situation.”