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North Carolina’s wild horses expected to survive hurricane
http://www.fayobserver.com ^ | September 11, 2018 | Denise Lavoie

Posted on 09/11/2018 9:12:53 PM PDT by NKP_Vet

For many vacationers on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a trip there is not complete without at least catching a glimpse of the majestic wild horses that roam the islands. As Hurricane Florence approaches, many are expressing concern about how the horses will fare during the powerful Category 4 storm.

The Facebook page of the Corolla Wild Horse Fund was peppered with comments from worried tourists and residents.

“Thinking of all of the horses as Florence approaches. ... Praying for their safety,” wrote one concerned woman.

“Prayers for protection from the storm for these beautiful animals & the young foals,” wrote another.

Wildlife experts say they needn’t worry. Wild horses are believed to have first settled on the Outer Banks hundreds of years ago and have survived many powerful storms.

Sue Stuska, a wildlife biologist based at Cape Lookout National Seashore, where 118 wild horses live on Shackleford Banks, said the horses are highly sensitive to weather changes and instinctively know what to do in a storm. She said they go to higher ground during flooding, including the dunes, and head for shrub thickets and a maritime forest during high winds.

“Naturally, they are meant to be outside and they have high ground and they have thick places to hide,” Stuska said.

“Don’t worry about them. They’ve survived for hundreds of years, and we expect that they’ll be just fine.”

The Corolla Wild Horse Fund, a group devoted to protecting and managing a herd of wild Colonial Spanish Mustangs that roams on the northernmost Currituck Outer Banks, posted a message on its Facebook page Monday to reassure horse lovers that they expect the animals will be just fine.

“The horses have lived on this barrier island for 500 years, and they are well equipped to deal with rough weather,” the group wrote.

“They know where to go to stay high and dry and are probably in better shape right now than most of us humans who are scrambling with final preparations. They are much better off without any help from us; anything we might do in the hopes of ‘protecting’ them would probably end up being more dangerous and stressful for them than the storm.”


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: florence; horse; horses; hurricane; hurricaneflorence; obx; wildhorses; wildlife
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To: RegulatorCountry
Thank you! I read on wiki about the horses; the books were novels which were based on actual people, horses and locations. It's fascinating reading. The horses were adopted by the orphaned Beebe children who lived with their grandparents on their ranch by the same name. The 3 children died tragically, main character in a car accident, brother within months, sister a couple years later, and Misty 12 years after that leaving many descendants.

Brought tears to my eyes. And in one section, wiki tells about a foundation raising money to replenish horses lost on Assateague, an island off the coast of Virginia, that were lost in a bad storm. I guess that's where the name of the Stormy book came from.

So some of the wild horses are casualties of storms. There's another large island in the north Atlantic where there many shipwrecks and wild horses. It has been inhabitated off and on, don't know if any people remain now. I got most of my information from one of Edward Rowe Snow's account, can't remember which book or the island's name.

21 posted on 09/11/2018 10:04:03 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: dfwgator

TX a lot Freeper.


22 posted on 09/11/2018 10:07:10 PM PDT by CaliforniaCraftBeer
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To: Tucker39

They’ve been there for about 5 centuries, I think they’ll do ok.


23 posted on 09/11/2018 10:24:53 PM PDT by waterhill (I Shall Remain, in spite of __________.)
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To: NKP_Vet
Since there are no wild horses in all of North America, I don't worry about them at all.

There do seem to be some feral horses, but they are not wild horses.

24 posted on 09/12/2018 12:18:53 AM PDT by CurlyDave
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To: NKP_Vet

Virginia has the Chincoteague horses

http://www.chincoteague.com/


25 posted on 09/12/2018 12:50:14 AM PDT by gattaca ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Ronald Reagan)
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To: freedomjusticeruleoflaw

save the Raccoons too.


26 posted on 09/12/2018 1:06:54 AM PDT by ChiMark (America America)
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To: NKP_Vet

We saw the horses last year. My 9 year is praying for the people, the horses, and the turtles of OBX every night.


27 posted on 09/12/2018 1:47:59 AM PDT by redgolum
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To: CurlyDave

LOL

Depends on who you ask.

Had one old crusty prof that had a theory that there were native horses in North America that predated Columbus and had a viable population that bred into European horses.

Can’t remember he guys name now.


28 posted on 09/12/2018 1:51:18 AM PDT by redgolum
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To: Celerity

Yeah, really.


29 posted on 09/12/2018 2:35:21 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("Kindness and truth shall meet." Ps. 85:10)
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To: NKP_Vet

These horses would graze by the local restaurants in Corolla. Stupid tourists would try to put their children on them for pictures.


30 posted on 09/12/2018 2:52:35 AM PDT by duckman ( Not tired of winning!)
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To: waterhill

Right. I was merely stating a fact. And, as has happened many times in the past, I’m sure; in a 10 ft. storm surge, some of them will be swept away and die. And that’s just part of the cycle of life in our present fallen world.


31 posted on 09/12/2018 3:01:22 AM PDT by Tucker39 ("It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington)
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To: RegulatorCountry

Glad to hear that. Most of them will probably survive, then.


32 posted on 09/12/2018 3:03:32 AM PDT by Tucker39 ("It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington)
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To: NKP_Vet

That’s funny to see this story...
Just evacuated from there. Vacation cut short. 8 miles driving on the beach. Horses didn’t seem to be worried much they’ve seen it before.


33 posted on 09/12/2018 3:54:37 AM PDT by Samurai_Jack (War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.)
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To: NKP_Vet

They don’t call it “Horse Sense” for nothing.


34 posted on 09/12/2018 4:07:58 AM PDT by aomagrat (Gun owners who vote for democrats are too stupid to own guns.)
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To: freedomjusticeruleoflaw

Plenty of high ground and wooded areas to “ride it out”...might do more damage trying an impromptu roundup.


35 posted on 09/12/2018 4:22:39 AM PDT by trebb (So many "experts" with so little experience in what they preach....even here...)
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To: RegulatorCountry
I wonder what those horses are doing on the beach near the water.

No food there, no fresh water.

I wonder if the sea water serves as their primary source of salt? Or perhaps they are going for a swim?

36 posted on 09/12/2018 4:30:42 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
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To: Tucker39

In the areas where they remain unpinned, it’s possible to predict the weather by their behavior. Wind blowing off the marshes leads to a large increase in mosquitoes, and the Banker Ponies head for the beach to escape them in the salt air and sea breeze. This is an indication of a storm front coming from inland. So, if you’re in the northern OBX 4x4 beaches and want to see them, they’re right on the beach when a storm’s coming from inland. The reverse happens with a storm coming in off the ocean, they head toward the sound and marshes. There’s typically a big tree-covered ridge just before the sound, a dune really. That’s where they go, run sometimes depending on the severity of the weather. Other animals do it too, foxes, rabbits, stray dogs, deer, boar, even bear in the more remote sections up near False Cape State Park across the state line in Virginia. It’s a very cool place, unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere in this country. Love it there, but the weather is a very real, pressing thing. You’ve got to be aware of it. Last time I was up there, a waterspout came ashore. No real damage, other than maybe the school of fish it sucked up and dropped on land. The ocean is pretty interesting there too, pods of dolphin are often right up in the surf. There’s video of several shark feeding frenzies up there too, with fairly large ones shimmying up into the shallows in pursuit of prey fish. Whale watching too, not a common thing in the southeast.


37 posted on 09/12/2018 4:35:39 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RoosterRedux

I explained in a post after yours, they run to the beach to get into the sea spray and ocean breeze to get away from mosquitoes when storms blow across from inland over the marshes.


38 posted on 09/12/2018 4:36:44 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Celerity
Is this the first hurricane to hit North Carolina or did i slip into a parallel dimension

Ever notice how the shoreline from Virginia to Florida looks like a category 5 sat there for months shaping it?

39 posted on 09/12/2018 4:45:23 AM PDT by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: Dixie Yooper

May not have been hurricanes that were responsible for some of the scallops in the shoreline. Ever heard of Carolina Bays? Those are inland round lakes. Many attribute them to meteorites.


40 posted on 09/12/2018 4:51:32 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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