story by Sam Walker as it appears in The Outer Banks Voice
“The Corolla wild horses are one of the many natural treasures of our state…”
U.S. Senator Richard Burr, R-N.C., announced Thursday the introduction of Senate Bill 3448, the Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act, a bill to provide for the responsible management of the wild-horse population around Corolla on the Currituck Outer Banks.
The bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement with the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, Currituck County, and the State of North Carolina to provide for the management of these horses to ensure that they continue to thrive in their natural habitat, according to a news release.
The bill is the companion legislation to H.R. 306, introduced by Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., which passed the House of Representatives on Feb. 6.
It would allow the allowable herd size to grow from 60 to between 110 and 130. The Senate has since taken no action on the House version.
H.R. 306 specifies the Wild Horse Fund will pay for all costs of the plan.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages Currituck National Wildlife Refuge and is part of the horses habitat, has expressed concern over expanding the herd and its impact on the refuge.
A study on the impact on the refuge by the horses and other large animals is expected to conclude next month.
The horses are descendants of the Colonial Spanish Mustangs, which is designated as the official state horse of North Carolina.
“The Corolla wild horses are one of the many natural treasures of our state, and people travel from across North Carolina and the country to witness these wild horses in their natural habitat,” Burr said in a statement.
“I am proud to cosponsor this bill that will provide for the care and management of these wild-roaming horses and give local organizations and authorities the tools they need to manage these horses without excessive federal involvement,” Burr said.
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is notable primarily for killing members of species that it “manages.” If it is concerned that there are too many horses in the Corolla herd, then I am very concerned about a bill that gives any rights to the U.S. Fish and Wildife Service. I haven’t looked into this yet, but my first gut reaction would be that horse activists should strenuously oppose this bill and any effort to give any management rights to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They’re another rogue agency like the BLM.
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The bill does not give management rights to USFWS. Management will stay with the nonprofit Corolla Wild Horse Fund who are the advocates for the wild horses and have been instrumental in working with legislators. The Fund employs a fulltime Herd Manager.
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Goodlady is absolutely correct.. Salazar and the BLM, destroy/kill, all which they have a “say so,” in. Oppose this legislation!!
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Do we really want to turn over the future of this herd to the BLM? Are we so set in our ways in this country that we cannot see what has been so very wrong for the past 40 years and think of a better way? Is it just because it’s the easy thing to do? We the People turn and look the other way with an “It’s not my job” attitude. We want someone else to do it because then we have someone to blame when sh-t goes wrong. As with the herd management of the western states shi-t is going wrong everyday and we won’t get mad enough and do anything about it until we read the headline “America’s Last Wild Horse Has Died”. {The passenger pigeon was one of the most known birds in North America. Sadly the last one died in 1914.} {Ursus arctos californicus – California golden bear (extinct) The last known bear was shot in California in 1922.} SHOT! Some dumb ass hunter shot the last golden bear in existence. Like a day or so ago the one and only wild bison in Idaho was shot and killed simply because he roamed onto government land.
We American’s have some reputation with wildlife. Yes we’ve saved the bald eagle and we got the wolf off the endangered species list but we’re about to have to re-list it because the same ranchers are repeating history.
As for me I’m sick of it. Folks “Extinction is Forever”. We can’t bring back the passenger pigeon or the California golden bear. Only stuffed ones remain. I only hope that future generations won’t have to see mounted mustangs looking like Trigger does today. But if we leave it up to the BLM and scum like Ken Salazar that is exactly what is going to happen.
God Bless America’s wildlife!
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I couldn’t agree more Steve! You hit the nail on the head.
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You may have misunderstood the purpose of this bill. This herd is not managed by Interior/BLM/FSWS. It is managed by a private foundation. At issue is whether the horses will be allowed to graze on land managed by USFW that is part of a National Wildlife Refuge Center. USFW contends that the horses are feral–non-native—and wants to keep the number at 60. This bill would allow the number of horses to be somewhere between 110-120 which is the number recommended by Dr. Gus Cothrane, Equine Geneticist at Texas A & M for genetic viability. Development has encroached on the grazing areas these horses have used for centuries, but access to some of the wildlife refuge’s acreage would give them enough land for viability at the 110-120 number.
This bill has bi-partisan support. Please call your Senators and ask them to support this bill or co-sponsor. We know that the ROAM Bill passed the House in 2009 and promptly died in the Senate, but this bill does not have any of the issues that ROAM had (competition with cattle, energy), It’s just a matter of USFW yielding some control and cooperating with the local community. This bill also has the support of Madeleine Pickens and Mitt Romney.
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Dear Hoofhugs, I thought for a moment N.C> had lost their everloving Minds, I wouldnt let the BLM near any of those Mustangs , that the Carolinas treasure like the Icons they are…………………….. Thanks for the explanation !!!!!!
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America has many “lasts, due to greed and disregard for other living beings. A great last, a human, a Yahi Indian named Ishi. When humans stop wanting. wildlife will stop desperately needing. Power hungry, money making, idealistic, dogs, wearing suits. If only we could stop their noise and let them hear, feel and see the beauty and majesty of wild horses pounding the ground like drums! But there is no heart on a dollar bill.
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The Good People of North Carolina should leave well enough alone, The BLM destroys anything they get their Greedy Bloody hands on !!!!!!
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Letting DOI/USDA have ANYTHING to do with these treasures will be the wild equines’ death sentence.
I said as much over at Horseback. They are featuring 2 stories; 1-ASPCA and the 2d-AWI.
Something smells in this deal and the set up (management) for these wild equines from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina is weird.
The 1971 Act needs serious repair, but does this geo specific bill really help the Atlantic wild equines? Why were they not part of the 1971 Act…or were they?
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The wild horses on the east coast are not part of the 1971 act – nor would we want them to be. The Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act is specific to this herd because USFWS who owns only about a third of the total land accessible to the wild horses has insisted that the maximum herd size be set at 60. This is not a genetically viable number for this wild herd in their current habitat. DNA testing in 2007 by the nonprofit Corolla Wild Horse Fund (the organization that manages the herd) resulted in a recommendation of a minimum herd size of 110 with a target population of 120 – 130 and introductions of mares from Shackleford Banks. (Both herds are registered Colonial Spanish Mustangs). The Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act mandates a viable population size so entities like the DOI cannot set limits that are managing for extinction.
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This bill would give the State of NC and the Corolla Wild Horse Fund management of these horses and would allow the herd to grow to a more genetically viable herd. This is a good thing, and we need to support it. Its FWS that is opposed…….
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Why can’t the west embrace their wild horses like the east does?? Why do they want to kill all the wild horses of the west? I think they need to take a lesson from these congressmen that are doing what they can to protect our wild horses.
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Hope the Corolla Wild Horse Fund hangs on to these horses & doesnt allow the FWS to weasle their way into the management. They & the BLM (DOI) have done such a crappy job with our mustangs & burros.
This should provide a lesson as to how things SHOULD be.
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Here in NC, there are no other conflicts (except FWS) to compete with the wild horses – no ranchers, nor miners, nor anything else on the Outer Banks (except tourists) – so this is an easy one for politicians to support. But it stil needs a LOT of support due to FWS who sees these animals as a nonnative species.
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What ever the BLM, “Brutal Lawbraking Mismanagement” is planning to do, socalled, ” for the best interrest for the Wild Horses”. we all know, they are full of lies. Their exuces like, “there is a Drought, so they have to remove [kill] the Wild Horses. In the mean time, they are putting cattle on that same land, where is the Drought?????. The BLM , they are the Nazis of this country, , why couldn’t we stop ,them? Why isn’t the American public told, what is happening, what the BLM. is doing ? We could be with the 1000000000’s in protest, to say “NO, this may not go on? like Ginger Kathrens from the Cloud Foundation said; ” All our Wild Horses belong to the American Public, and Americans should speak up for them, before these symbols of freedom are gone for ever. Why are not All the Organizations, who believe in the concept “we are the voice of the voiceless, “, getting together, that also means, get All their activists together, and DO SOMETHING about it.
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I’m for the American people having a direct say in the care and management of our wild horses — no matter where they roam. It’s about time that the BLM gets their bloody hands out of our wild horse ranges and let “US” the American citizen have control over them. I know they would be in better hands as we would provide a caring hand in everything that happens. It’s about time we take our “wild horses back” and the land that they graze on. Otherwise, we will see all our beautiful wild horses as a past history — never to see and admire again.
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Dear Lynn, Thank You I agree..We need to take our Mustangs back, and give them back the Land that belongs to them. !!!!! And release the all of the Mustangs to where they came from…………..with their families as best we can !!!! The Mustangs are our Heritage and we cannot allow any more of the Likes of the BLM to terrorize them any further……………. If we dont do this and soon we are no better then the BLM>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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Arlene: As always, well said. I don’t think we can wait much longer either. Our lovely Cloud’s family has now been reduced and we need to protect the three and save them that was captured. I hope Ginger can plan our strategy to get them.
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Thank You Lynne I am also hoping Ginger has some kind of Plan we can set in motion for the Pryor Mtns herds……………..
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Both North Carolina Senators Richard Burr ( R ) and Senator Kay Hagan (D) support this bill. Senator Hagan told me personally that she would fight to save North Carolina’s wild horses—
We know the House passed ROAM in August of 2009. and promptly died after two readings in its Senate committee. Whatever happens to this bill, it really affects no other state in the country. The Shackleford Island, NC, ponies already have their own separate federal law to protect them, so there is a precedent regarding North Carolina’s wild horses on the coast.
Duke University and Princeton University have been studying the Shackleford Horses for years. As might have been predicted since the wild horses are the only grazing animals on the island, the island is being re-forested. Right now the trees are in small clumps and somewhat shrublike, but the island is no longer purely grass land.
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Hoofhugs, I cannot believe that anyone who cares about wild horses and who knows what is happening to wild horses in the west would actually believe that a bill that gives even a tiny bit of power over a herd to any branch of the federal government would do anything but harm the herd.I do not find anything convincing in the arguments put forth here about why this bill would be a good thing. I think anyone who supports it is a fool. I will beg my Senators and Congressmen to oppose it and I recommend this course of action to others. The explanation in support of this bill offered here is either incredibly naive or incredibly duplicitous and conniving. And you are pleased that this bill has the support of Mitt Romney, known to animal lovers as the candidate who transports dogs tied down to the roof of a car? I wonder if you also think that horse slaughter for human consumption is good and humane?
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Alright GoodLady, a little etiquette alert…we don’t call other users fools as everyone has a right to their opinion. We are border-line flaming, here, and that is a quick one way road to moderation.
Let’s keep a grip on the tone.
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The Corolla Wild Horse Protection Act does not give the government any power over the Corolla herd. The private, nonprofit, Corolla Wild Horse Fund is, and will continue to be the management entity. This bill is the only hope for a genetically and physically healthy future for these horses.
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Sorry RT…I thought “goodlady” made some important points.
I still don’t understand the implications of FWS having anything to do with these animals; looks like a toe in the door to remove the wild equines. One just has to look at the wild equines out West and the myriad of excuses, lies, incompetence, murder and maiming of our icons to be more than a bit suspicious.
Has Laura Allen made a legal assessment? Afterall, the 1971 Act was supposed to be our wild equines protection and with covert, conniving manipulation, back room deals, our mustangs and burros are being massacred left and right.
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Point taken, but I am not comfortable when others are called fools…the fools are the ones we write about, not the ones that we write with.
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I’d like to know what Ms Allen thinks about the Corolla bill….we have come to learn that the 1971 Act was FULL of holes big enough to sail an aircraft carrier through….not to mention the insidious ka-rap added and manipulated by Congress post 1971 Act.
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Wild Horses: Removals From Cloud’s Pryor Mountain Herd Continue
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Whoops sorry was trying to paste info on the Pry mt. removal !!!!
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Yes, the Corolla horses need protections from human encroachment in terms of buildings and 4-wheelers that kill them in the night. I just do not trust USFW or the dastardly BLM. They are no good, so a complete overhaul is needed.
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I’m real un-easy with any kind of agreement with the Secretary of the Interior (that would be Salazar?). Sorry—no trust/no faith here. We’ve been following the fate of Federally Protected wild horses for the past years. Are we satisfied with the management programs we’ve seen in the west? Guess it’s time to hurry down and see these wild horses before they’re called sea-rats.
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