Thursday, September 28, 2023
By Submitted Story on June 20, 2020
The Corolla Wild Horse Fund posted this message on its Facebook page earlier this morning. It is another caution to visitors that there can be dangerous consequences to violating the animals’ space.
We all love foals! They are cute, and fun to watch, and most importantly, the future of the Corolla herd. Unfortunately, they also attract a lot of attention that can quickly become very unsafe.
Yesterday afternoon we received a call about a distressed foal and responded immediately along with law enforcement. Sebastian was separated from his mom by a fence (she could easily get over, he could not) and got surrounded by onlookers and panicked. In the end, mom and foal were reunited and everything was ok, but it could have ended much differently.
Someone could have been hurt by the protective parents, the foal could have been stressed to the point of shock, dehydration, or heat exhaustion, or he could have been injured as he ran blindly around trying to get back to his mom and away from the crowds. Based on the behavior we’ve been observing lately this is probably not an isolated incident and we are just very lucky that someone (horse or human) hasn’t been hurt.
We are begging everyone to please give all the horses, but especially the families with foals, plenty of space. Our staff and the county deputies watch as closely as we can, but we can’t cover all 7500 acres of the 4×4 at every minute of the day and night. Please do not hover around foals. Take your photo and move on. Remember that 50 ft is the minimum distance that must be maintained, but foals need even more distance.
If you witness a foal being crowded, call the Currituck non-emergency number at 252-232-2216. They will send a deputy as well as call the Herd Manager.
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hightider
The tourists won’t even act responsibly about the virus; what makes anyone think they will act responsibly around the horses? It’s their vacation and they are oblivious to anything except gratifying themselves. You can see dozens of Youtube videos of tourists harassing the horses. Carova has a group of year round residents who respect the horses (with the exception of the horse tours) and keep an eye on them. Everyone else is a tourist, whether a daytripper or a renter.
Jessie Ferrari
Please don’t lump all tourists into this category, my family are repeat visitors every summer and we would never disrespect nature or the outer banks in any way as we are just thankful to enjoy it there. It is very true that a lot of people on vacation are like this but they are likely the same people who refuse to wear masks at home too.