As posted on myFox8.com
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COROLLA, N.C. – The wild horses in Corolla on the Outer Banks are beautiful, but a horse foundation is reminding visitors not to approach them.
WTKR reported that the Corolla Wild Horse Fund is warning visitors not to approach, touch or try to feed the wild horses on the beaches.
A visitor to the Outer Banks snapped photos last year of a family with children climbing sand dunes and getting dangerously close to the horses.
“I think it’s because our horses don’t run when they see people, people assume that they are not wild and that’s a very dangerous misconception,” said Corolla Wild Horse Fund Executive Director Karen McCalpin.
This year, two women posed for a “selife” with a wild horse that was posted to Instagram.
Currituck County adopted a civil ordinance in 1989 that makes it unlawful for any person to lure, attract or entice a wild horse to come within 50 feet of any person.”
The ordinance also prohibits “any person to lure or entice a wild horse out of a wild horse sanctuary, or to seize and remove a wild horse from a wild horse sanctuary.”
Authorities said getting too close to the horses could be dangerous. They said they want people to enjoy the beauty of the animals at a safe distance.
Categories: Horse News, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
WARNING: Wild horses may crush smartphones with their hooves. XD But, for real, I agree. Harassing them or desensitizing them to humans can have negative consequences like removals and such.
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Another point this story makes indirectly is the short distance between wild horses becoming accustomed to the sight of humans and humans accustomed to the sight and habits of horses to the point when the natural curiosity (seeking behavior described by Dr. Temple Grandin) brings the two together and the ease that then develops between the species. This helps explain how horses were domesticated in so many places by different people over time. This would be particularly true in areas where herds did not observe the predatory behavior of humans toward other horses.
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For those that need a “Horse fix”, there are SO many rescues that could use help and so many Domestic Horses that could use some extra TLC.
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I agree, Louie. There are many horses and burros that would love attention and brushing and hearing a soft voice and feeling a soft touch … but respecting a WILD animal’s “space” is a big part and the first lesson in appreciating a wild animal.
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These captive Wild Horses could sure use some attention from visitors…they need LOTS of visitors
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I’d give them all the love and attention they want if I could. ❤
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No what they need is to fed more and more water and med when they are sick,and shade and a place to get out of the driving rains and the snow and high winds.. Foals only have the shade that the mother throws on the ground. Wake up America the BLM does not care the government does not care..
Join us in giving them what they need.
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Right On Daryl…what they REALLY need is to be released BACK TO WILD where they belong…on their Legal Herd Management Areas.
They should NEVER have been captured and removed in the first place.
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Are wild horse advocacy groups the only ones obeying the law? And getting virtually s*** on.
“Drought pushes Nevada ranchers to take on Washington.”
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/us/drought-forces-nevada-ranchers-to-take-on-washington.html?_r=0&referrer
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And a new approach in Montana
http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/montana-cattle-ranching-wolves
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Thank you for sharing that article, Geri. I had not heard of that program. I will be very interested in following it now that I know about it. I keep learning so much from all of the readers & posters on Straight from the Horse’s Heart. Thank you!
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Really good article! Thanks – signed up on that one.
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A nice article by Catlin Jill Anders about loving wild horsed
https://www.thedodo.com/love-wild-horses-1238255255.html
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