01
Sep
There are an estimated 150-175 horses on the island. When is sea turtle nesting season.
New horses were introduced as free-ranging livestock in the 1900s and National Park Service surveys estimate there are between 100 and 200 feral horses on the island today.
How many wild horses on cumberland island. The total number of horses on the island could be 30 to 40 animals higher than the annual survey results. Cumberland has the only herd of feral horses on the Atlantic coast that is not managed no food water veterinary care or population control. The herd is affected by all the natural stressors faced by native wildlife.
Abandoned by Spanish settlers more than 500 years ago according to local lore about 160 feral horses today roam freely on Cumberland Island part of Georgias Golden Isles just north of Amelia Island Florida and south of Jekyll Island Georgia. This means that their ancestors were once domesticated and that these horses have been left to fend for themselves in the wild. Fred explained how the Spanish first brought horses to Cumberland in the 1500s only to abandon them shortly thereafter.
Following the Spanish were plantation owners who tried to make a living from the land. They too left horses behind. Perhaps the most charismatic yet problematic of non-native animals on any of the Georgia barrier islands are the wild horses Equus caballus of Cumberland Island.
These horses are the source of much controversy which becomes even more apparent whenever anyone tries to apply some actual science to them. So I will talk about them here from my perspective as a paleontologist and. New horses were introduced as free-ranging livestock in the 1900s and National Park Service surveys estimate there are between 100 and 200 feral horses on the island today.
Observe them but dont crowd their space within 50 feet because they are known to bite and kick. Road Scholar group on Cumberland Island Wild horses of Cumberland Island. The bewitching alluring horses that roam freely on Cumberland are called feral horses because their origin is from domesticated horses brought to the island.
They have reverted to their wild state and have adapted to living on the island without the help of people. Some say their origin is from the Spaniards. About 35 miles north of Sea Camp is the largest plot of cleared land within the Cumberland Island National Seashore boundary Stafford Field.
This was originally part of Robert Staffords cotton plantation. When the Carnegies purchased the land in the late 1800s it was converted into a golf course and then in more modern times an airstrip which is what the field is used for today. Being a large field with plenty of grass it is no surprise that the horses.
Cumberland Island Georgia is one of the islands off the coast of Georgia the largest and southernmost barrier island as a matter of fact. Its accessible only by the Cumberland Ferry thats located on the mainland of St. The mainland of St.
Marys Georgia is easily accessible from South Georgias I-95. Take exit 3 and travel about eight miles to reach the St. The Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act was an act passed on December 15 1971.
The act was passed because of public outcry against the commercial exploitation and decreasing numbers of the wild horse herds on federal lands. The passage of the act specified that the wild horses and burros could only be managed in the areas that they inhabited at the time of the passage. Cumberland Island National Seashore the largest and southernmost barrier island in Georgia is home to more than 200 wild or feral horses.
Though new stock would continue to be introduced and sold off Cumberland Island by 1972 when the Cumberland Island National Seashore was established horses had become feral. Wild horses in a NPS site in Georgia. That may come as a surprise but theyve been in the area for centuries.
The annual census of wild horses at Cumberland Island National Seashore has just been completed. Hows the parks population of untamed equines doing these days. Cumberland Island National Seashore on the Georgia coast includes one of the largest undeveloped barrier.
Anouk KrantzWild Horses of Cumberland Island The National Park Service has conducted population surveys since 2003 with counts ranging from 120 to 148 horses. How many horses are on the island. There are an estimated 150-175 horses on the island.
Click this link to read more about feral horses on Cumberland Island. Why are there so many dead horseshoe crabs on the beach. Horseshoe crabs molt as they grow so most of the shells that are seen on the beach are molts not dead crabs.
When is sea turtle nesting season. Cumberland Islands 150 wild horses have been captured in a stunning book by French photographer Anouk Masson Krantz. The feral horses have lived there for hundreds of years.