Skip to content

Towie star warns others not to hug New Forest ponies

Getty Images Gemma Collins is photographed looking into the camera at an event. She has dark brown eyes, long eyelashes and long, bleached blonde hair. The background wall behind her is different shades of pink.Getty Images
Gemma Collins deleted a picture of her hugging the free-roaming pony, telling followers to "support these beautiful horses".

TV personality Gemma Collins has told her followers not to "stroke or feed" animals in the New Forest National Park after facing a social media backlash for hugging a pony.

The former The Only Way Is Essex (Towie) star previously deleted a post from her Instagram of her embracing the free-roaming pony.

In May last year a former Neighbours star was also criticised for feeding the animals.

The New Forest National Park Authority has been contacted for comment but introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in 2023 to protect wildlife in the park.

Gemma Collins/Instagram A screenshot of an Instagram post by Gemma Collins. It contains white lettering on a pink background dotted with pink and white hearts, telling her followers not to stroke or feed the horses, cows and donkeys in the New Forest.Gemma Collins/Instagram
Collins later posted this message urging her followers not to "stroke the horses or feed them".

Collins, who has more than two million followers on Instagram, had posted several pictures of her visit to the New Forest.

One post showed her with her left arm around a pony's neck and her head resting on top of the animal.

Commenting underneath Collins' posts from a New Forest hotel, one user wrote: "Never touch our wild animals in the New Forest, you can get a fine for it."

Another user said: "Someone with this platform should behave better coming to our beautiful New Forest."

Gemma Collins/Instagram A screenshot of a message on Instagram from what appears to be the New Forest National Park Authority to Gemma Collins' PR team asking her to remove the post of her hugging a pony.Gemma Collins/Instagram
Collins posted what appeared to be a message from the New Forest National Park Authority to her PR team, asking for her post to be removed

In 2023, a PSPO was introduced by New Forest National Park Authority to protect wildlife and prevent barbecues.

Anyone in breach can be handed a fixed penalty notice of up to £100, or fined up to £1,000 if the case goes to court.

Collins later posted what appeared to be a message to her PR team from the New Forest National Park Authority, referring to the PSPO and asking them to remove the post.

In a separate post, Collins urged her followers not to follow her example.

"As an animal lover we must do all we can to protect these beautiful horses... donkeys and cows and keep them safe," she wrote.

'Unpredictable'

The ponies are cared for by local people called commoners, according to the New Forest National Park Authority.

Guidance on the park's website asks visitors not to feed or pet the ponies, which they describe as "unpredictable" and "best treated as wild".

It adds: "There is plenty of natural food and it's best that they don't come to rely on people's attention."

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.

More on this story
Related links