We were informed that the Sundre RCMP took the head of the filly to a local Vet.   The Vet xrayed it and found no bullet, hence they could not conclude that she was shot.  What then caused the mysterious round shaped hole in her head? (See Pictures).  We may not be forensic scientists, however, Bob was a police officer for twenty six years and has unfortunately seen bullet holes in people’s and animals heads.  Could it be that the bullet passed through her head and kept on going?  Bob also showed the pictures to a few retired fellow officers and they too were of the opinion it was a bullet hole.   One possible cause of death was given that she could have fell in that small hole she was lying in and died, yet none of her legs appear broken or swollen due to severe sprain.  There were also no indications that the filly had been taken down by a predator either, as there are no claw marks or teeth puncture marks on her neck or hind end.  She had been scavenged upon naturally after death, that much is obvious.   As for disease or something, she looked as though she had plenty of meat on her, not a scrawny sickly animal.  Inspite of any number of reasons one might come up for cause of death the pictures say 1000 words.  There lies the dead filly sprawled out with a red hole in her head.Š

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Bob and I were leisurely driving around the foothills west of Sundre today and instead of photographing Beatiful wild horses and other wild life, Bob ended up photograhing a dead foal.  We saw a bunch of ravens circling so we pulled over to see what they were feeding on.  Bob got there before I did and said to me “its a dead foal. “ My heart just sank, and I looked upon the gory site of a once sweet little foal. She was about four months of age, judging by her size and had a bloodied hole in her head.  The spineless road hunter shot her from the road about 25 feet away.  The filly was just grazing with her family and was senselessly gunned down.  We had seen her small herd all summer and fall in that particular area.  A picture of her Sire, Dam and newborn older sibling were featured in our 2007 calendar.   The herd had consisted of a bay stud, a buckskin and red roan mare and another 1/2 sibling foal close in age.   This is the eighth wild horse found shot in 2007.  Same killer? Probably not, but who knows for sure.  However, it was likely just some half-wit feeling powerful with a gun in his hand.   Will there be justice for this little one?  With your help there can be, please write to our governing officials posted on our site and cc a copy to the area media.  Currently there is over $10,000 in a reward fund for information leading to the arrest of the culprits responsible.  

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After waiting six long months we got a report back from Dr. Gus Cothran of the University of Texas.   Essentially, in a summary email from Dr. Cothran he states that the horses are of the cold blood type.  They are a type of pony and in their dna tree of resemblance they fall into the group of the shire, dales and fell ponies and are also related to the Spanish horses.  The official mailed document however, will require a geneticist to decode all the scientific data.     Nonetheless, according to the Alberta Sustainable Resources Development, it doesn’t matter whether the Alberta wild horses came originally from spanish stock or were ranch escapee’s they are not considered wildlife and they see no reason to change their current status.  Currently, the horses fall into a grey area where they are not considered wild life but they are not considered domestic really either, otherwise they would fall under the protection of the SPCA, and any complaints would be investigated by them.   To date that hasn’t happened either. 

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Be sure to read the article by Equest Life. It is listed in the “pages” section on the right. Or use this link.

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Our yearly fundraiser is underway and we have hundreds of calendars to sell.  They are $25 each which includes postage and handling.  We feature 13 pages of 8X10″ pictures of beautiful Alberta wild ponies with a story about each herd or individual horse. The pictures depict all four seasons breathtaking winter scenes, newborn foals including “River” the stranded foal and lush summer and autumn photo’s of our magestic horses .  All Proceeds go to WHOAS.  Please send cheque or money order to WHOAS Box 614, Didsbury, AB  T0M 0W0.  They make lovely and unique Christmas gifts.

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We are finally back on track after a busy season of tracking the herds in the Sundre area.  Over the summer we have had some tremendous lobbying done on our behalf by www.wildhorsepreservation.org, they had hundreds of supporters write to our Prime Minister, Premier and Travel Alberta, regarding the senseless capture season/anilation of Alberta’s wild horses.  We are very grateful to our American equine friends, many thanks to them.  The Humane Society of Canada is making Alberta’s Wild Horses one of five top priority campaign projects this year as well, which we greatly appreciate.  equestnetwork.com has international readership and they did a tremendous article about the Alberta wild horse capture season which is unfortunately now underway in spite of everyone’s lobbying efforts.   Please don’t stop the writing campaign, we can’t give up or let up. 

Articles about “River”  the rescued foal will also be featured in the Saddle Up magazine November issue along with the 24/7CoptoCop Newspaper.  The DNA report is in and we will be announcing the findings next week. 

Doreen Henderson

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