The
Bahamas are down to only eight wild horses. Genetic tests show they're
Spanish Barbs who improbably survived for 250 years in pine forest and
scrub. The herd of about 200 were so elusive some considered them just
a myth. Milanne Rehor,
who describes herself as a once "horse crazy child," set out to find
them after reading of them in an old sailing guide. She eventually
found that they were real, but about to disappear.
Owens-Illinois loggers came in the 1960s--clearing forests, bringing hunting dogs and flushing the horses into view, according to Equiworld.net. They had been shot, sometimes out of fear, sometimes for food. Rehor founded the group The Wild Horses of Abaco. The Bahamas Star Farms also helped, taking matters into their own hands, capturing, caring for and releasing the horses.
In 1982 there were 35 Abaco horses. In 2005, the Bahaman government shut down Bahamas Star Farms
because of a canker. Now a mysterious illness is killing off the
horses. The stallion Mimosa died in October Rehor doesn't know that if
it's toxin from plants or some kind of poison. Here's the group's emergency plan.
