OCRACOKE, N.C. — Cape Hatteras National Seashore is calling on residents to help develop a plan to address the potential impacts rising sea levels could have on the wild horses on Ocracoke Island.
On Tuesday, May 21, the Seashore is holding a public meeting where it hopes to pinpoint issues, concerns and opportunities that should be included in a so-called horse management plan.
"The primary purpose of the plan will be to ensure the short- and long-term welfare of the existing herd. The plan will include goals for the size of the herd given current and future management challenges and opportunities within the Seashore on Ocracoke Island," according to the National Park Service's (NPS) website.
The public meeting will be held between 1 and 2 p.m. May 21 at the Ocracoke Community Center. If weather impacts the ferry, officials said the meeting will be rescheduled.
"Once a range of ideas are received and refined through the preliminary public meeting, the Seashore will move to the next phase, which will include formal public meetings associated with the environmental review process," NPS said.
The Ocracoke horses or ponies are believed to have been abandoned in the 16th or 17th century by shipwrecked Europeans who were flocking to the New World. The first documented ponies on the island were in the 1730s, according to the NPS.
"By law, the free-roaming animals were penned in 1959 to prevent over-grazing and to safeguard them from traffic after the highway was built in 1957. The remaining herd has been cared for by the National Park Service since the early 1960s," officials said.
Currently, the Seashore reports there are no plans to expand the herd — with the last foal born in 2018.
