There are horses of all sizes, shapes, colors and ages at the Sanctuary. They are living and dying as they have for 100's of years--wild and free -- but they're living longer now that they have us to take good care of them! That means hay and minerals when the grass in the meadows dries out each summer.
We have several beautiful stallions on the sanctuary who are very territorial. Feeding time could be a real problem but we help keep the peace between them by spreading the feed over several acres. They have room then to keep their mares grouped separately from the other bands.
Amazingly there are horses with us today who came here many years ago. Two in particular, Bud and Onyx, are still "buddies" and can always be seen together. They came to us in 1983 and are now 23 and 25 years old---older than horses normally live in the wild, thanks to you and the supplemental feed they get here at the Sanctuary.
The faithfulness that Bud and Onyx exhibit to one another reminds us of the many faithful supporters that have made the Sanctuary possible.
If you, too, would like to help the horses by buying hay and minerals please use our online sponsor registration form. |
|
In the early 80's we granted researchers at the University of California at Davis the right to conduct an experiment with PZP, a contraceptive vaccine. The results were very successful, especially because it did prevent pregnancy in the horses with no side effects, it could be used on pregnant mares without damage, and it proved reversible.
"It appears that this experimental contraceptive vaccine is also effective on large populations of horses and that it may serve as a humane alternative to the control of overpopulation of other feral animals including white-tailed deer, tule elk, elephants and possibly black bears"---Irwin Liu, DVM, PhD, University of California, Davis. "It far outweighs the disadvantages of culling by translocation and/or slaughter."
Liu continues, "As you can see, the original studies at the Wild Horse Sanctuary have had an enormous long term effect on the humane treatment of feral animals all over the world. ...I am truly grateful to the WHS for allowing the project to happen." |
