COROLLA, North Carolina — During the summer season, Carova Beach is one of the few places where visitors can load up their vehicle and drive on the beach. Some don't realize this area is home to wild horses and Meg Puckett received a call late Friday night with news that is never easy to hear.
"It's devastating to get that phone call no matter what, regardless of what horse it is, but it always hits a little bit harder when it's a young horse that had so much potential," said Puckett, the director of herd management for the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
Watch: 2 facing charges in connection to horse that was hit, killed in the Outer Banks
A 10-year-old stallion named Bullwinkle was struck by a utility terrain vehicle we now know was driven by 57-year-old Porter Williamson. Williamson and his wife Rhonda were both charged with resisting, delaying and obstructing an investigation by the Currituck County Sheriff's Office.
Puckett said there are only around 300 of these specific wild horses left in the world. Meaning losing just one has a generational impact on the herd.
“There's no other horse, no other breed of horse in the world that can repopulate these herds. If they were to all die out, like once they're gone, that's it. So that's why each individual is so important, and when you lose one individual, you're not only losing that horse, you're losing every single foal that that horse would have produced in its whole life," said Puckett.
Watch: Wild horse euthanized after being struck by vehicle on beach in Corolla
With visitation to the Outer Banks booming over the last few years, a focus for the fund and law enforcement has been finding a balance between human and horse interactions.
“We've really seen visitation numbers jump up for whatever reason. So, it's definitely become more and more challenging in the last couple years, it's something that we've really ramped up our education, our advocacy. We've worked really closely with the county to try and get on top of some of these things," said Puckett.
Though you can be charged for approaching, enticing or feeding the horses, some may be wondering why the Williamson's are not facing charges related to hitting the horse, patrol captain Neel Smith with the Currituck County Sheriff's Office explained why.
"The horses are wild animals, they're not protected. So the county of Currituck doesn't own the horses, the State of North Carolina doesn't own the horses. So they are wild animals, essentially no different than a bear or a deer when it comes to animals versus vehicles," said Smith.
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Despite this, law enforcement and the fund want visitors to understand who they are sharing the beach with when driving on it.
"They've been roaming here since they were brought here. So this is their home, respect it," said Smith.
"We would like to see more restrictions and better protection for these horses. But at the end of the day, you can put all the laws you want in place, that doesn't mean people are necessarily going to follow them. So, even if someone breaks the law, they hurt a horse, there are consequences, that horse is still gone. We need people to make sure it doesn't happen in the first place and so that's really what we're trying to have people take away from this really tragic situation," said Puckett.
Bullwinkle is the first wild horse to die this summer after injuries suffered from being hit by a vehicle. In 2023, two horses were humanely euthanized after being struck by vehicles. Puckett said it's clearly a trend that they do not want to see continue.
