You may remember back in Q2 of 2022, the story of the horses of Cumberland Island graced the cover of our newsletter. It was an informative accounting of my trip to the island with concern for the horses there. What I didn’t mention in that article was that the Georgia Equine Rescue League (GERL) and the Georgia Horse Council (GHC) had agreed to be Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the National Park Service (NPS) and others to enforce the current laws surrounding feral animals on the island, as well as equine protection laws.
This is not the first time that GERL has been involved with the management of barrier island equine. Back in the ninety’s they were involved with the Ossabaw donkey roundup on Ossabaw Island which was sold to the State of Georgia in 1978 by the State of South Carolina. GERL’s involvement included helping with the round-up and adoption. Donkeys remain on the island today.
When I was first approached about GERL’s and GHC’s involvement as Plaintiff’s in a lawsuit, I took a few days to digest what that could mean before calling a Board meeting for discussion. The GERL Board of Directors agreed to join the horses of Cumberland Island and Carol Ruckdeschel, local resident, biologist, and famous turtle lady, in the lawsuit. Since the Board is the same for both organizations, I was able to move forward with our answer to the attorney, Hal Wright.
I gathered a committee of 7 interested volunteers, and we met via conference call every Tuesday night for several months, doing research and providing information to Mr. Wright who was drawing up the demand letter which was served back in August. We drafted a management plan that would span a number of years into the future that included removing weanlings and yearlings and offering them for adoption, as well as birth control for the mares. Several of us took a trip to Cumberland Island so that we could see firsthand what it was we were objecting to. There has been no formal response from any of the Defendants. It is our hope that our management plan might be considered, but of course, we have no idea how the NPS will respond.
The Current, a news source that covers news for coastal Georgia, ran the first story about the situation I’m speaking of a few weeks ago. It was written by Mary Lawson who interviewed me and others. I think that she did a great job of covering everything from soup to nuts in her article. We obtained permission from The Current to republish Mary’s story in our newsletter this quarter. I hope you find it informative.
Immediately after Mary’s story came out in The Current, the National Parks Traveler ran a story which referenced Mary’s story and the situation on Cumberland Island with feral horses. It is a great article, as well, and they sum it up perfectly by asking the question: “Why doesn’t the National Park Service have a system-wide policy for dealing with feral horses? If they view feral horses as non-natives that compete with native wildlife, shouldn’t it have a system-wide policy of removing them, rather than allowing a contradictory approach depending on the local sentiments to dealing with them? After all, a non-native species is a non-native species.”
There are a lot of people involved and it is a very political situation that has been festering for years, but let me say this about that…getting involved and giving the horses a voice is the right thing to do.
