H – A-Z of Commoning and the New Forest

Hit and Run Animal accidents have been a sad sight on Forest roads ever since cars were invented, and now an animal is killed or injured nearly every day. If you’re involved in an accident make sure you call the Agister right away, and let them know exactly what’s happened. In the Forest no-one is hated more than the hit-and-run driver. An injured animal can’t call for help, and might wander in pain for days before being found and treated. That’s why rewards of up to £1,000 are offered for information that helps to find hit- and-run drivers.

If you know anything about a hit- and-run accident in the Forest, call the police on 101.

When an animal is let out onto the Forest it tends to ‘haunt’ particular areas, rather than roaming the Forest at large. If a commoner buys an animal from another part of the Forest, it will want to go back to its haunt. One old commoner’s trick was to tie a pony from the north of the Forest to one from the south, so they’d both settle down rather than pull in opposite directions!