Vandals paint pony with Nazi signs

Yobs who daubed swastikas over a miniature Shetland pony were today condemned by the animal's distraught owners.

Julie and Ken Bassett were horrified to find vandals had drawn Nazi symbols on the forehead and side of two-year-old Lucy. The tiny pony, who stands less than 34 inches tall, had to be scrubbed and have her forehead shaved to remove the graffiti.

The Bassetts keep Lucy, along with 18 other ponies, in fields off Bluebell Road, near the University of East Anglia. The couple take in unwanted or mistreated Shetland ponies, paying for their keep out of their own pockets.

Mrs Bassett, 41, of Parr Road, said: “I'm absolutely disgusted, particularly because of the sign they have put on her. Lucy has got deformed legs and wouldn't have been able to run away like any of the other ponies would have done. She's the sweetest little pony and so trusting. So many people love to come down and see the ponies and for somebody to be so cruel to poor Lucy is unfair.”

The crime happened between the evening of Wednesday, April 18, and 6.30pm the following day.

The Bassetts gave Lucy a home as a foal two years ago, when her previous owners realised she was deformed. She would have been destroyed otherwise.

Mrs Bassett said: “We finally got it off but we had to shave her little forehead. Luckily she's losing her winter coat so it wasn't too bad to get out. We don't know what it was, either spray paint or a thick black felt tip pen.”

The couple have made a home for Shetland ponies from all over the country, from private owners or from the RSPCA. The first pony they took on was Jasper, who Mrs Bassett spotted tethered without food or water in a field while out walking her dog six years ago. He belonged to travellers and she offered to buy him because she felt so sorry for him.

Sophie Wilkinson, of the RSPCA, said: “People can make their statements, but there is no reason why they should be using a living animal to write anything on. It's going to cause a huge amount of distress to a pony to have anything written on it.”

Norwich Evening News