Namib Wild Horses’ future looks gloomy – only 84 left and they are struggling
The future of Namibia’s wild horses looks bleak as there are only 84 horses left in the desert near the Garub water hole. As a result of the protracted drought spanning more than two years, all the last surviving horses are struggling to stay alive.
According to the statement issued this week, concerned parties which include the Namibia Wild Horses Foundation,the Aus-Lüderitz Tourism and Business Action Group and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism will take up discussions again soon to find a solution to safeguard the future of Namibia’s wild horses.
The parties said that the worst drought to sweep through south-western Namibia in the last three decades continues relentlessly, offering no respite for the Namib’s wild horses.
According to them statistics show that numbers have plummeted to the lowest level ever recorded, even dropping below the figure from the severe drought of 1998.
“The surviving 84 horses are battling to survive against all odds, and there are serious concerns that they will not make it. Unlike the previous drought, this one has brought with it an additional adversary: a pack of spotted hyenas that has moved into the Garub area in the Namib Naukluft Park and is targeting the horses. Not one foal has survived since 2013,” they added.
Furthermore horse numbers according to them are declining despite the provision of supplementary feed funded by generous donations from the public.
“It is likely that the predation will continue,regardless of the rain, rendering the population extinct in the very near future,” they added.
Meanwhile, the Namibia Wild Horses Foundation has proposed the relocation of the horses to private farmland in the vicinity to prevent further predation, while those in the Aus-Lüderitz Tourism and Business Action Group have appealed for intervention to manage the hyenas.
