North Carolina’s Corolla Wild Horse Fund has confirmed a young stallion became tangled in barbed wire near an Outer Banks beach and had to be euthanized.
The Fund posted on Facebook that the 4-year-old horse named Joaquin was spotted caught in a barbed wire fence Thursday. The post said a veterinarian determined his leg couldn’t be saved and euthanasia was “the most humane” option.
The News & Observer reports more than 200 wild horses live among the islands, but two have already died this summer and a third was injured .
The Fund added they’ve feared a horse may get caught in the wire ever since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service installed it.
They say the service has been responsive and meetings are scheduled to consider an alternative.
