BY MIKE HOLTZCLAW | 757-928-6479 | Newport News, Virginia
The reward just got richer in the hunt for information on the 2001 and 2005 wild horse shootings on the Outer Banks.
The Corolla Wild Horse fund has had a standing offer of $9,500 in the case, and this week the Humane Society of the United States added $2,500 to bring the total potential reward to $12,000. The reward is available to anyone providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for a series of wild horse shootings that date back to 2001.
In November 2001, five wild horses were found shot to death on the Outer Banks. In December 2006, another horse was fatally shot. In July 2006, a wild horse was killed at the Currituck Wildlife Refuge. Its body could not be recovered, but Corolla Wild Horse Fund director Karen McCalpin said a large hole was observed in the horse’s side that was “clearly the point of entry for something.”
Bullets and other forensic evidence were retrieved from the bodies of the first six horses, but no arrests have been made. It is not clear if the incidents are related.
Corolla’s wild horses are a well known part of the Outer Banks’ history, descended from horses brought by Spanish explorers in the mid-16th century. The American Livestock Breed Conservancy lists the Colonial Spanish Mustang breed as “threatened.” There are 92 remaining on the Outer Banks.
Anyone with information on the case can call the Currituck County Sheriff’s office at 252-453-2121, or the Corolla Wild Horse Fund at 252-453-8002.
Copyright © 2007, Newport News, Va., Daily Press
Related link: Corolla Wild Horse Fund
Tuesday's Horse 