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Week Ending March 18, 2005

 

                                                                                         

HR 126 to amend Public Law 89-366 to allow for an adjustment in the number of free roaming horses permitted in Cape Lookout National Seashore.

 

 

BRIEF

   A popular element of North Carolina’s barrier islands are the wild ponies that populate one of the islands, the Shackleford Banks, near Beaufort, North Carolina. The herd of relatively small horses have been living there for over 100 years ago when the ships on which they were transported to the US sank off the coast. The horses have adapted to an austere saltwater and marine environment.

   The bill as HR 2055 was introduced and passed the House in 2004 but went no further with the 18th Congress. A committee report on that bill found that the Cape Lookout National Seashore established in 1966, is a 56-mile long section of the Outer Banks. Three of the barriers, where the horses live, are undeveloped including the North Core Banks, South Core Banks, and Shackleford Banks.

   Cape Lookout is administered by The National Parks Service (NPS) and the herd is jointly managed by the NPS and the Foundation of Shackleford Horses.

   The report explained that, “In 2002, the Superintendent of the Cape Lookout National Seashore and the Friends of Shackleford Horses agreed that the population of the horses should never fall below 110 horses for sound scientific reasons, such as genetic diversity.”

   The bill, then, would “adjust the number of free roaming horses from 100 to not less than 110 free roaming horses with a target population of between 120 and 130, where 130 horses shall not be viewed as an absolute maximum. In addition, H.R. 2055 would not permit the removal of the horses unless removal is carried out as part of a plan to maintain the viability of the herd.”

 

Sponsor: Representative Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-NC-3rd)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote (Mar. 15, 2005) Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent November 2005.

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost. The NPS supervisor concluded that no additional funds would be necessary to manage 130 horses.

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