'Slow Down!' Warning From Park Services For Travelers Visiting Assateague Island This Summer
OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- The annual Chincoteague Pony Island auction will be virtual again this year running from July 22 to July 26. It's a fundraiser for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department, however, one foal will not be auctioned off.
Born in April, still dependent on its mother, a foal was left lame and limping on July 6 when someone hit its mother, four-year-old Moonshadow. Moonshadow was killed and the driver kept going.
Luckily, a park employee discovered the scene and rescued the foal who was taken to Chincoteague to be cared for.
"Because of our vet team that we have in place, they felt it would be best to be in the foal's interest to come down here to Chincoteague to be taken care of," said Denise Bowden, P.R. Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department.
Word of the foal's plight spread quickly on the island and some tourists like the Cortez family came from as far away as long island. "Every horse is important and we're so excited to see them and we're so passionate about them being safe."
This foal was Moonshadow's first. Moonshadow was the 53rd horse to be hit by a car on Assateague Island and the 36th to be killed. Although signs are posted everywhere there is little enforcement, which upsets Ashley Kozlowski who works to preserve the beauty and the animals of Assateague.
"There isn't enough law enforcement. There aren't enough horse management interns to prevent everything from happening," said Kozlowski.
Kozlowski wants to remind visitors to slow down and to simply take their time. "And if something should happen just own up to it. Fess up to it. So the park service can be alerted sooner," she added.
As for the Foal, the volunteer fire department is promising that once she learns to graze and is integrated into the herd, She will live out her days on Assateague Island.