New Website for Alberta’s Wild Horses
The Galileo Education Network, based out of Calgary has put up a new website featuring Alberta’s wild horses. It includes both historical information and legends by the Aboriginal people and experts. The website is interactive, and its educational mentor Judy Martin stated in The Calgary Sun, Wednesday, February 10, 2010 edition, that “she is hoping that the tool will emphasize the importance of the history of the animals and draw some attention away from the deaths”.
Their website http://www.galileo.org/
WHOAS was pleased to provide some information and input into their project and would like to thank those involved with the Galileo project for including our group. We are thrilled that someone has taken the initiative to show the horses in a different light, rather than focusing on the tragedies. Incentives such as the Galileo project and the Equine Heritage Exhibit may help turn the tide, regarding the fate of the wild horses of Alberta. These beautiful, hardy horses may stand a chance of not becoming extinct, at the hands of man, after all.
Despite WHOAS generally being featured only when shootings have occurred, nonetheless, it is the very reason behind our society’s existence, as an (advocacy group). We provide a voice for a species that has no voice of its own.
Equine Heritage Exhibit
Linda Finstad is creating an exhibit of Alberta horse breeds and part of that display includes the wild horses of Alberta. We were pleased to give Linda a tour of the West country last week, to photograph wild horses in their natural environment, along with introducing her to a few rescued mustangs, in order for her to get some close up photo’s. The horses in the wild, in some cases, were not very cooperative for a photo op, and ran off as soon as they saw us coming. They likely have been chased and harassed in the past.
Undetered by their flightiness, Linda was able to compensate for the distance with a massive camera lens and managed to capture their images very well. A few herd stallions such as Socks and Bear put on quite the show for her. Socks, the pinto stallion really likes to strut his stuff. He is our all time favorite model. Check out Linda’s website at www.imagineitsold.ca
Camilla Chu, a Biology graduate student, came along on this trip as well, in order to experience and photograph the wild horses. Camilla, weeks earlier, decoded a DNA report which we had received from Dr. Gus Cothran in 2007. Whereas, Dr. Cothran did his best to explain the results, the report itself needed someone familiar with DNA analysis to further break it down for us. Thank you Camilla for clarifying that report for us.
We will be sending off twenty more collected hair samples to Dr. Cothran for his analysis at the University of Texas at the end of the month. Camilla’s report regarding the first 11 samples submitted in 2007 will be available on our site shortly.
