High Court rules ferry operator TT-Line has a case to answer over polo ponies’ deaths

The High Court has ruled Spirit of Tasmania operator TT-Line needs to answer animal cruelty charges after the deaths of 16 polo ponies. LATEST >>

TASMANIAN ferry operator TT-Line has lost its High Court bid to have animal cruelty charges against it in relation to the death of 16 polo ponies reviewed.

The Spirit of Tasmania ferry operator will also have to pay court costs after Friday morning’s ruling.

TT-Line was charged after 16 polo horses were found dead after their voyage on a Spirit of Tasmania ferry on arrival in Melbourne in 2018.

One of the 29 charges related to alleged conduct that was “reasonably likely to result in unreasonable and unjustifiable pain and suffering to the animals.”

The other 28 related to the alleged failure to keep horses individually stalled for trips across the Bass Strait.

Last year TT-Line failed to convince the Supreme Court to review the pony death charges.

Now the High Court has also decided the charges should stick.

The company has pleaded not guilty to the 29 animal welfare charges, including accusations it didn’t provide adequate airflow for the horses on their trip.

The ponies had competed in the Barnbougle Polo event in Tasmania’s north and were found dead when their float was opened in Victoria after the Bass Strait crossing.