Tourist kills wild horse on the Outer Banks by giving it an apple. It choked for days
A colt on North Carolina’s Outer Banks died a slow, painful death, after someone ignored laws against feeding the wild herd and gave it an apple, Corolla Wild Horse Fund reported Monday in a Facebook post.
The yearling, named Danny, died “in a horrific, devastating, completely preventable way,” herd manager Meg Puckett says in the post. A culprit has not been identified, but the death comes at the height of the tourist season.
“When we say that apples and carrots kill wild horses, we are not kidding. We are not being overly dramatic. We are not using scare tactics,” Puckett wrote.
“Danny was killed by humans who had no regard for the safety of the horses. No regard for the health of the horses. No regard for the laws put in place to protect the horses.”
Apples are not part of the natural diet for Outer Banks wild horses, which feed on sea oats, grasses, acorns and persimmons, according to Outerbanks.com.
It’s believed Danny “had an obstructed esophagus for days,” but Puckett learned of it only after someone called to report an animal in distress, according to the Facebook post. Medical treatment began Friday morning, including “the use of a sedative to try and relax his esophagus,” Puckett wrote.
The sedative worked, but closer examination revealed the apple “had been lodged in his throat long enough to cause an infection and most likely a rupture to his esophagus,” Puckett posted.
Danny died Friday evening at an animal hospital and experts blamed “traumatic head injury from thrashing around for days while he was choking,” Puckett said.
“If this is hard for you to read, we can promise you it was much harder to witness in person, and it was absolute hell for Danny to suffer through,” Puckett wrote.
“Danny was just a baby. ...The herd doesn’t deserve to lose a young horse like this.”
The feral herd at Corolla is about 100 horses. Another herd of around 100 horses roams farther south on the Shackleford Banks within Cape Lookout National Seashore.
Currituck County has laws against people intentionally getting within 50 feet of the horses, and it specifically cites feeding them as illegal in any form.
Signs warning visitors against feeding the herd are posted in yards, along the dunes and there’s a billboard that notes apples and carrots can kill the horses. Additional signs are being added as part of a plan that was in place before Danny’s death, Puckett said.
The death comes at a time when the Corolla Wild Horse Fund and the Foundation for Shackleford Horses have reported a series of incidents in which tourists have been seen harassing wild horses.
The National Park Service reported in May that three Outer Banks visitors were photographed chasing a month-old horse in an attempt to get selfies on the Shackleford Banks, McClatchy News reported. The foal was separated from its mother during the incident, but the two were later reunited, the park reported.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Tourist kills wild horse on the Outer Banks by giving it an apple. It choked for days."