OFFICIALS are being urged to install new warning signs in the New Forest after a man was seen offering potentially lethal acorns to ponies.

Pigs are released in the Forest every autumn to gobble up the acorns, which can prove deadly if eaten in numbers by other animals.

Derek Bennett, of Station Road, Sway, told the Court of Verderers: “My wife and I went to Fritham and came across a man who was encouraging his young daughter to feed handfuls of acorns to ponies. I pointed out the danger of doing so.”

He suggested that appropriate signs be installed.

This year’s bumper crop of acorns mean pigs may remain in the Forest for longer than usual, with Graham Ferris, chairman of the Commoners’ Defence Association, telling the court: “We suggest an extension of one month – but only for those pigs that have proved not to be a nuisance.”

New measures to deal with acorns will be made public.