We regret to inform you that this afternoon, Friday, July 29th, N10OY, a 16 year old stallion also known as Tunkan Hoksila, was hit by a car. Because he suffered a broken leg, Tunkan was humanly euthanized. Our law enforcement officers are currently investigating this incident.
The death of Tunkan makes 30 horses that have been killed since 1982 as a result of vehicle collisions. Please do your part to help us ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We can not emphasize enough the need to remain alert at all times while driving through the national seashore, especially around the wild horses!
(1) Obey all posted speed limits. However, when approaching horses in or on the side of the road, it may be necessary to driver SLOWER than the posted speed limit.
(2) Remain alert to horse movements along the road. Horses may react in ways that you do not expect. Horses may be easily startled into traffic by something that is not obvious to the people in a car, such as a horse fly bite, the whinny of another horse or rumbling truck engines.
(3) Don’t encourage the horses to come to your vehicle. Not only is this illegal, it encourages the horses to stay near the road to look for handouts.
13 comments:
How exactly does an operator driving the speed limit as posted on Assateague managr to hit an animal as big as a car!?
A wild horse in the road is an hazard, and not the drivers fault if he or she hits and kills it, it's just like a deer. What is there to investigate?
If whoever was doing the speed limit this would not have happened!
8:15 you and this idiot that hit the horse should be permanently ban from Assateague. You don't deserve to be on the island with wildlife if you don't respect them. It is their home you are invading and you should show all the wildlife on the island with respect.
Anonymous said...
How exactly does an operator driving the speed limit as posted on Assateague managr to hit an animal as big as a car!?
July 29, 2016 at 8:11 PM
I think the fastest you can drive on the road is 25mph. WTH are these people doing to his a 1,000 horse.
I do not swerve for any animal in the road, doing so could cause my vehicle to become uncontrollable and possibly kill me. How many times have we all read in the news about a single car accident where the person lost control trying to avoid and animal. Human life is worth a whole lot more than a stupid horse, deer, duck, goose, possum, ect. Defensive driving courses teach you this, never swerve to avoid hitting an animal.
Agree. If you are driving the speed limit and paying attention hitting a horse on the island is impossible. Maximum penalty should be dealt. The only exception I can think of is the driver having some type of medical emergency.
If people didn't wrongly interact with these animals by feeding and luring them for photos all these years the ponies would perhaps avoid the roadways. I know it's unique and so cool but all the interaction is wrong. Those visitors are the real idiots and I bet they would probably feed geese as well.
Just like driving on Isabella or Church St. Same rules apply. Slow down and don't encourage them to come to your vehicle.
Alpo.
Bahahahahaha
Have you been there
What do you expect from drivers from NY, PA and Jersey?
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