Mom rejects wild foal born days earlier on Outer Banks. Now, it’s dead, officials say

A days-old wild foal is dead on North Carolina’s Outer Banks after being brutally rejected with kicks from its mother, officials say.

The Corolla Wild Horse Fund made the heartbreaking decision to euthanize the foal, named Elsa, after discovering she was suffering and not likely to survive.

“She was very sick. It became clear why Elsa’s mother had rejected her — she most likely sensed that Elsa was not going to survive,” herd manager Meg Puckett wrote in a June 4 Facebook post.

“It’s difficult any time there’s a medical emergency with one of the horses, but going through this kind of thing with a foal is exceedingly hard.”

Elsa is one of eight horses known to have been born this year on Corolla, at the northern end of the Outer Banks. The area is remote and laced with with marshes that allow wild horse families to vanish for months at a time.

The birth of Elisa was discovered Sunday, June 2, and herd officials immediately noted she was “on the small side,” but appeared to be nursing and healthy.

“However, (Tuesday) morning when one of our staff came across Elsa’s mother and two-year-old sister, she was not with them,” the fund reported.

“The foal was located out on the beach with a different harem about a half mile away. She was with a mare who was being very protective and even letting her try to nurse, but obviously Elsa was not getting any nourishment and could not be left with her.”

An attempt to reunite Elsa with her mother was abandoned after it was discovered the mare “had been seen kicking at” the foal Sunday.

Elsa was instead taken to a farm operated by the nonprofit fund and tests revealed a series of health issues, including pneumonia, severe dehydration and a shortage of critical nutrients derived from mother’s milk, officials said.

“Elsa was already fading quickly by that point so we made the decision to help her pass quietly and with no further suffering,” the fund reported.

“She has been buried at the farm next to the other foals we’ve lost over the years. They are just outside the mares’ pasture so they always have a big herd of their ‘aunts’ watching over them.”

The foal’s short life is a harsh illustration of the tough conditions animals endure on the barrier islands, where food and fresh water are not always easily found. The horses are believed to have escaped or were freed by early colonists and have adapted over the centuries, including a special diet of “native plants and grasses,” the fund says.

This story was originally published June 5, 2024 at 7:25 AM with the headline "Mom rejects wild foal born days earlier on Outer Banks. Now, it’s dead, officials say."