Wild Horses of Shackleford Banks

As long as anyone from Carteret County can remember there have always been wild horses on Shackelford Banks and on Core Banks, the location of the Cape Lookout lighthouse, built in 1812.

However, in 1993 the National Park Service began to announce to the public their ideas for removing the horses from Shackelford. In 1995 they published a management plan for removing one-third of the herd. Thus was born a huge public interest, and Jerry Hyatt of Newport, NC led a public awareness out-reach called "We The People." Mr. Hyatt literally brought back to life forgotten stories of ships that sank at sea and historians who walked the shores. During Mr. Hyatt's plight to save the mustangs, Elizabeth Loftin of Beaufort, NC, who loved Shackelford and the wild mustangs, thought of the idea of forming a group who could do more, a group who could reach out to our state leaders for help.

The research of Elizabeth Loftin and her associates was backed by environmental specialists who agreed that the wild mustangs and the island would be best left unmanaged by man or the National Park Service.

On May 7, 1995, Friends of the Wild Mustangs of Shackelford Banks, NC was founded during a meeting of the Carteret County board of commissioners at the court house, in which the group asked their local leaders and commissioners to send out letters on the group's behalf asking state representatives and legislators, Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. and Governor James B. Hunt for help. The Board supported the group unanimously. Those who had know the mustangs and loved Shackelford even before their leadership expressed fond memories and the importance the wild mustangs were to our heritage. These board members were David Yeomans, Ms. Carol Davis Long, and Ms. Opal Hill. After the meeting Ms. Long continued to help Ms. Loftin write to state leaders. Ms. Loftin traveled to the island daily to photograph the wild horses and the overall condition of the island. Together with the group's Vice-President and Secretary Hiedede Boel of Germany (a 20 year resident of Beaufort) they did their research and study of the island. Later on their research was backed by environmental specialists who agreed that the wild mustangs and the island would be best left unmanaged by man or the National Park Service. They agreed that the past 400 years was living proof that nature could not be improved.

Two of the most important members of Friends of the Wild Mustangs were Ms. Dot Salter Willis of Portsmouth Island (a child of the ninth generation, now living in Morehead City, NC) and Tony Seaman, Jr. (a local business owner now retired). These two individuals assisted the research by sharing a "lived history" of the little Spanish horses that led to the sparing of many of their numbers.