THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010448
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
DATELINE: MACKAY ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
A federal wildlife official said Thursday that he is ``not particularly happy'' that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit to construct a sound-to-sea fence north of Corolla last week to protect a herd of wild horses.
The permit will allow a group of Currituck County residents to build a four-foot high fence north of the end of N.C. Route 12. The group then plans to move 22 wild horses out of the populated beach subdivisions and onto 1,800 acres of government-controlled land.
A large portion of that land is owned by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and included in the Mackay Island and Currituck national wildlife refuges.
``On one hand, the permit will solve a problem for the horses,'' said Ken Merritt, who manages both national refuges. ``But we've always had a problem on our refuges with those horses and now we'll probably have a worse one. Horses just aren't compatible with the refuge uses.
``We'll be looking for a way to remove them from our refuges.''
In March, Merritt and other federal wildlife officials wrote letters to the corps protesting the fence. If wild horses are corralled on refuge land, officials said the animals will harm endangered piping plovers, endangered plants like the seabeach amaranth, and other barrier island species.
``The refuges were established for the native wildlife - not a bunch of horses that some people brought to this beach and let go wild,'' Merritt said of the Corolla herd, which some people believe have roamed the northern Outer Banks for more than three centuries. ``Environmental damages are being caused out there already by the horses.''
Merritt said his agency has no other opportunity to oppose the fence permit or project. But he and other wildlife officials plan to meet with county leaders to discuss long-term horse management plans. A study of the wild horses and plan to manage them are expected to take at least three years. by CNB