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The fate of the Sable Island Ponies.
The fate of the Sable Island Ponies. Located about 300 km off the Southeast Coast of Nova Scotia, Sable Island is a 42 km sandbar that has supported a population of feral horses since the 18th century. Now researchers are conducting necropsies on the Islands unique Feral population .teams of researchers have been travelling to the Island for the past two years trying to find out what has caused the demise of a lot of the horses who have died there recently..The windswept sand covered Island has seen some of the harshest conditions on the Atlantic Ocean..Wildest storms , frigid cold and winds that whip the sand into cutting stinging nettles...yet these horses have survived ..eating little vegetation , surviving on what little grass that grows there and seaweed ..high in iron and essential nutrients..The researchers are finding these horses have slowly been starving to death ..they have done necropsies on 30 out of the 50 carcasses and have found higher than normal parasites, the amount of sand in their food have blocked intestinal tracts, the horses that died were on their last reserve of fats that is essential for protection from the elements..Teeth that is worn down by sand in their diet doesn't allow them to chew their food properly which is a high factor because sand gets in their digestive tract and blocks it and the nutrients aren't getting to where its needed. Researchers have also found a bacteria which causes strangles , a severe virus that block the airways and respiratory failure is imminent unless treatment is available .also the presence of lungworm compromises the respiratory system. unusual because lungworm is almost always associated with donkeys .Parasite count is very high which means worms of great proportions are present .The sable Island horses have never been exposed to dewormers have had a lot of natural resistance to the parasites.. There is not likely a prominent natural cause of death more so than a combination of several factors which have seen the demise of so many , but given the conditions from which these horses have survived it was bound to happen..As a protected population of feral horses there has to be avenues and mounds of paperwork , special licenses and directives followed for any research or veterinary work to be allowed to be carried out on the horses on Sable Island ..one has to have total respect for their plight and for the conditions in which they have lived for so long. |
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3/17/2019 10:37 am |
The sable Island ponies plight.
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I have always been a big fan of these guys and would love to own some of the art work that has been completed of them but not in my price range. There is a park office there which is manned part time. I would love to work there.
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3/17/2019 11:17 am |
Hi my friend, beautiful horses! You always have informative and interesting blogs!
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Sad to think that they have survived so long and are now doomed but then if the science is right many more species will follow them shortly and all because of humans, sad.
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3/17/2019 1:54 pm |
Such beautiful horses!
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3/17/2019 1:58 pm |
I have always been a big fan of these guys and would love to own some of the art work that has been completed of them but not in my price range. There is a park office there which is manned part time. I would love to work there.
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3/17/2019 2:00 pm |
Hi my friend, beautiful horses! You always have informative and interesting blogs!
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3/17/2019 2:05 pm |
Sad to think that they have survived so long and are now doomed but then if the science is right many more species will follow them shortly and all because of humans, sad.
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3/17/2019 2:07 pm |
Well Jack I agree but the cycle of life has to happen to all animals on the planet in order for them to evolve and survive making them more hardy than ever..These ponies have a bunch of really caring people who will make the right decisions when the time comes but they will not intervene till its is necessary to do so..thanks Jack
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3/17/2019 2:08 pm |
Such beautiful horses!
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