Sable Island is a narrow, crescent-shaped island located approximately southeast of Nova Scotia. It is long and covered in sand dunes and grasses. Over 350 bird species and 190 plant species have been found on the island, in addition to the herd of feral horses, which are the most well-known inhabitants. Although popular legends claim that Sable Island horses swam ashore from the island's many shipwrecks, or were introduced by 16th-century Portuguese explorers, In reality, the horses were deliberately introduced to the island during the 18th century. The first recorded horses were brought by a Boston clergyman, the
Reverend Andrew Le Mercier, in 1737 but most were stolen by passing mariners. The present-day horses are thought by most historians and scientists to have descended mostly from horses seized by the British from the
Acadians during
their expulsion by the British. Although often referred to as
ponies due to their small size, they have a horse
phenotype and an ancestry composed solely of horses. Although Jolly was not the first horse on the island, he was the first to be identified by name in historic records, During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the horses on Sable Island were periodically rounded up and either kept by islanders or transported to the mainland, where they were sold, frequently for
slaughter. The meat was primarily used for dog food by the late 1950s, and the island horses were in danger of extinction. School children began a public campaign to save the horses. In 1960, as part of the Canadian Shipping Act, the Canadian government declared the horses fully protected and no longer able to be rounded up and sold.
Study and preservation Beginning in the mid-1980s, long term studies were begun of the Sable Island herds, and by the mid-2000s, most horses living on the island had documented histories. In 2007, a genetic analysis of the Sable Island herd was performed. It was concluded that these horses were genetically similar to multipurpose and light draft breeds found in eastern mainland Canada, with differences probably created by
natural selection and
genetic drift. However, the researchers also stated that Sable Island horses had genetically "diverged enough from other breeds to deserve special attention by conservation interest groups", A 2014 study by
Parks Canada stated that the horses were under threat from their low numbers, excessive inbreeding and extreme weather due to
global warming. In 2011, the Canadian government created the
Sable Island National Park Reserve, which allows further protection of the island and horses. Aside from the island, until 2019, Sable Island Horses lived only at the
Shubenacadie Wildlife Park in
Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. It maintained descendants of Sable Island Ponies removed from the island in the 1950s by the Canadian Department of Transport. The last remaining horse was euthanized in September 2019. Nonetheless, some continue to view the horses as an invasive species which is not suitable in a protected region where ecological integrity should be preserved according to the National Parks Act. A study published in 2019 found that the Sable Island horses had about three times the level of parasite eggs in their fecal material than domesticated horses, averaging 1500 eggs per gram. These included a parasitic
lungworm that caused respiratory diseases; the horses also suffered from reproductive diseases.
Necropsies of carcasses inspected in 2017 and 2018 showed that young horses died of
starvation and
hypothermia, particularly during extreme winters, as they would not have a sufficient reserve of body fat and suitable vegetation is sparse on the island during winter. Adults died of other causes. These results confirmed a similar study from 1972. The study also found that these horses incidentally consume significant quantities of sand, which gradually wears down their teeth and
blocks their gastrointestinal tract. Typical mortality rates are about 1% annually; during a harsh 2017 spring, the mortality rate was 10%. ==See also==