For every Wild Horse image purchased from my “Wild Walls for Wildlife” collection, 20% of the sales will be donated to the WHOAS, the Wild Horses of Alberta Society (https://wildhorsesofalberta.com)
It did not take very long, for my love of wildlife to find it’s way to the wild horse, having first spent time in France with the Camargue horses, where I met Sandy Sharkey, a wild horse lover and activist, with a dream to bring awareness to the plight of the wild horse in North America.
Soon after, I spent time on Sable Island, where I have returned time and time again, to experience the utopia of worlds for a wild horse, where little human interference is found, yet herds run free and thrive on a sandbar for an island full of vegetation. The same cannot be said for many western states and provinces where wild herds roam the land.
Having spent time with horses in Utah, Nevada and our very own Canadian western provinces, I think back to the foothills of Sundre Alberta, in one days outing, I had a Canadian Safari experience … coyotes, bald eagles, deer, herds of elk, magpies and the herds of wild horses protecting their baby foals … and lets not forget like Africa has the elusive leopard, we did not see the elusive wolves that I’m sure had an eye on us …
Horses have lived on Earth for more than 50 million years, according to the American Museum of Natural History. According to Scientific American, the first horses originated in North America and then spread to Asia and Europe. The horses left in North America became extinct about 10,000 years ago and were re-introduced by colonizing Europeans.
So often, when I hear that those fighting to reduce the numbers of our wild herds say how they consider them a nuisance and that they are just feral horses and not a “real wild animal”. I can’t help but shake my head with the reality that these horses started as wild creatures when human activity in North America drove the wild horse population to extinction about 10,000 years ago. That same human nature, used captive horses for their needs only to leave them behind when they were no longer needed or unable to care for them in treacherous conditions. Thus re-starting the wild populations – at what point do we continue to allow “feral” to be lessening the importance of the 100’s on 100’s of years, that these now domesticated horses found their way back to wild life? The horses we see roaming the lands, have been born wild, forged for food wild, out lasted winter conditions in Alberta Canada and the heavy hot summers in the deserts of Utah and other American states still lucky enough to have wild horses … They have simply gone back to their roots.
I fear, because domesticated horses are seen all around the world, living luxurious lives, many who are not close to the subject, feel there is no fear for the horses in general, and thus, the fight for keeping our wild ones safe and protected is one that is difficult to fight as the opposition waves around money and politics to support their case to reduce the numbers. For the horse, it’s not like the elephant or other many African animals that have large organizations fighting for them – but in some ways, our wild horses are our safari … For those of us who have travelled to Kenya, we know just how close the city is to the national parks protecting their large animals and we all hear so often about the struggle of the big 5 in Africa … well our wild horses are struggling too. Our wild horses are simply living the life they started out with, the one we took away from them … so protecting the ones that are wild and free, is important to a wild life experience here in North America, well I think it is anyway …
How cool is it to think you don’t have to go all the way to Africa to see large wild animals – you can see them right here in your own country while hiking the lands we have in our backyards… that is if we can continue to protect them...
For every Wild Horses image purchased from my “Wild Walls for Wildlife” collection, 10% of the sales will be donated to WHOAS, the Wild Horses of Alberta Society (https://wildhorsesofalberta.com)
For every Wild Horse image purchased from my “Wild Walls for Wildlife” collection, 20% of the sales will be donated to the WHOAS, the Wild Horses of Alberta Society (https://wildhorsesofalberta.com)
To learn more, follow @HelpAlbertaWildies and @WildHorsesOfAlbertaSociety