WHOAS was pleased to show CBC-Radio Canada the beautiful wild horses of Alberta.  Jack Nichol, one of our members from Sundre was our driver and guide.    Thankfully, a few horse herds were cooperative about being filmed.  However, we did spend a full day driving in search of the horses on some trecherous, snow covered, desolate roads.   The one tonne dually truck also doubled as a snow plow, which was a bit nerve racking.  Nonetheless, thanks to Jack’s superb driving skills we made it out of the forestry safe and sound.  (Jack also drives a school bus which explains his nerves of steel !) 

A four passenger helicopter was used to film the horses by air.  It was exciting to watch them lift off with the passenger side door removed for filming.   The camera man Brent Roy was strapped in safely, but had his huge camera to contend with and I couldn’t help but feel a bit queasy for him.  Although I was quite content to have my feet on the ground because it was Bob’s turn to be their guide. 

Wyley the wild colt we rescued in 2006 was also featured.  The little fellow wasn’t quite a yearling when we found the ailing horse.  He had been hit by a truck and left for dead.  However, now is doing great and adjusted to a living a pampered domestic life. 

The news reporter Marie-Claude Guay was impressed and concerned for a lone stallion also shown in the film, who had been recently kicked out of his herd.  She named him Ti-gars which translates meaning Little Boy or Kiddo.  Ti’gars hopefully by now will have found some other bachelor studs to join up with, as a lone horse is an easier target for predators.  As requested, we will keep Marie-Claude up-dated on the little boy. 

Click on this link to view the news report.Šhttp://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/alberta/Tele/albertacesoir.shtml

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We have found out from the horses mouth, so to speak, that the government has not issued pen or roping permits this year.  We would like to express our gratitude to the SRD for this.  However, we received an email from a concerned individual whom on January 1st, saw some people on horse back that appeared to be harassing some wild horses. One wild mare was running in and out of the trees, and in the observers opinion, the mare was clearly upset.   We obtained vehicle and stock trailer descriptions and license plate numbers. The family also reported the episode to the local RCMP. 

Today, January 6th, 2008 Bob and I took a drive out West to the area where the alleged incident occurred and found trucks and stock trailers matching their descriptions.   We documented this and reported it to the RCMP as well.Â

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The story of rescuiing a newborn foal out of the mighty Red Deer River was published in the November issue of Saddle Up Magazine out of BC, along with the North American 24/7 Cop to Cop Newspaper.  The 24/7 newspaper published the story as front page headline news.  It is a police newspaper which is distributed to 36 American states and most of the Canadian provinces.  This paper is exclusively published for law enforcement agencies.  Thank you to Nancy Roman of Saddle Up and Seargent Steve Gibson of 24/7 Cop to Cop news for publishing the story and helping get word out about the plight of the Alberta Wild Horses.  We are grateful beyond words.   River, by the way is doing marvelous.  Â

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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. Â

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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.Â

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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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Ever dream of working with a wild horse? Wonder what the differences would be from one that has been around humans all it’s life? (more…)

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