A SCOTTISH heritage centre has hit out at the “irresponsible” after-hours visitor who recorded themselves giving a horse a drink of Buckfast tonic wine.
The Almond Valley Heritage Centre, on the river Almond which runs through Livingston, condemned the action on social media.
It warned that giving animals Buckfast, a caffeinated tonic wine produced by monks in Devon, could “cause serious issues to our gentle giants”.
The heritage centre is home to Clydesdale horses, a large Scottish breed of draught horse that can weigh up to a tonne.
Sharing a screenshot from a TikTok video showing one of the animals being offered Buckfast, the centre wrote on Facebook: “This is not OK!!
“We have received an influx of messages tonight of someone (whose name we have removed) giving Buckfast to one of our horses to drink.
“Completely irresponsible, this could cause serious issues to our gentle giants.
“We do not allow people to feed our horses, or let them drink Buckfast for a reason, that reason being it could make them terribly ill.”
The centre added: “This is on a public footpath through the bottom part of our site around our horse paddocks, this was this evening [July 24], not during the day.”
Hundreds of people reacted with outrage to the image, with one user writing: “Seriously, what is wrong with people? Name and shame. Hope this has been reported to the police along with the other incidents otherwise it will keep escalating.”
“This is absolutely shocking!! What sort of human does this!!!” another said.
And a third added: “That’s terrible. Very sad someone would do that to such gentle giant.”
The Almond Valley Heritage Centre is a registered charity that looks to represent “the national importance of Scotland's shale oil industry”.
Their website states: “Almond Valley holds particular appeal to families with young children, who have an immediate affinity with the farm animals and run wild in the green spaces and play facilities.
“We aim to be a happy carefree place that can be enjoyed by all of the family, and hope that the experiences shared will inform, inspire and be reflected upon. This gentle approach to learning links and underlies everything that we do.”
The SSPCA said it had not been contacted about the incident.
