Successful Birth Control Program Manages NC Wild Horse Herd
A one-eyed black stallion dashed down a sandy road recently and careened chest-first into a harem of wild horses. Despite his battle scars, the small stallion was willing to challenge the male leading the mares. The two kicked at each other briefly before the entire group galloped down the road, manes and tails flowing behind.
Wesley Stallings, the herd manager for Corolla Wild Horse Fund, kept a bead on the herd, looking for a chance at a clean shot at one of the black stallion’s possible partners – a red mare nicknamed Terra Ceia. As the herd slowed to a walk, Stallings stuck an air pistol out of the window of his SUV, pulled the trigger, and sent the dart on target into her right rear hip.
“Last week, we didn’t miss a single horse,” he said.
It’s not open season on horses in the Outer Banks. But it’s always mating season.
Stallings’ job is to prevent the herd from growing, and he uses a contraceptive dart to do his bidding. He started his hunt a week ago for 53 mares. So far, he has darted 17.
When Stallings darts a horse, program manager April Hudson takes a photograph of the animal and records details of its features, such as color and markings.
“No two horses are ever exactly alike,” Hudson said.
Corolla’s wild horses descended from Colonial Spanish mustangs left on the Currituck Outer Banks more than 400 years ago, according to experts who have examined the herd’s DNA and bone structure. Living on a beach strand about a mile wide and 11 miles long, last count there were 118, nearly double the 60 agreed to by officials from the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, Currituck County, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a contract signed in 2000.
The growing numbers have caused conflict among the officials.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge on the Outer Banks, wants the herd size reduced to 60, said refuge manager Mike Hoff.
But dropping the population that low would destroy the herd, said Karen McCalpin, director of the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
“Managing for 60 is managing for extinction,” McCalpin said.
For years, the herd has remained above 100. Through contraception and adoption, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund controls the herd size.
A bill in the U.S. Congress sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., would allow the herd to swell as large as 130. The bill has a 5 percent chance of enactment, according to an online bill tracking site.
Using a compressed air gun, Stallings shoots darts loaded with porcine zona pellucida, known as PZP, a substance used to control wild populations, including deer. Officials have used PZP to control Maryland’s Assateague Island National Seashore’s horse population for years.
Even with annual boosters, the dose is not 100 percent effective, Stallings said. There could be as many as seven new foals this spring despite the dart hunt, he said.
Stallings, 40, has been the wild horse herd manager since 2009. He graduated from N.C. State University with a degree in agricultural business and has worked for more than 20 years in the equine and livestock industry. He has competed in rodeos and horse shows across the country, until two years ago, when he was certified in contraceptive darting at ZooMontana, a 70-acre wildlife park.
Based on counsel from experts in wild horse populations and DNA, McCalpin said the Corolla horse population must have a population of between 120 and 130 horses to remain healthy. But Hoff wants a study done to determine the best herd population for the habitat. The herd is divided into harems, typically of a few mares, foals, and a lead stallion.
The horses graze on grasses that produce seeds that shorebirds and waterfowl eat, Hoff said, adding that he has fenced off an area of those grasses to keep out horses. A patch of tall lush grasses grows on one side of his fence while on the other, the grass is chewed to the ground.
“Pretty striking, isn’t it?” he said.
Earlier in the day, not far from Hoff’s fence, Stallings wore waders and trudged through muck to get close enough to shoot two mares in two different harems. Add Terre Ceia and another horse he shot along the road, and Stalling had a good tally for the day.
Just 36 to go.
Originally Posted By The Virginian Pilot