A herd of 29 Konik horses from the Oostvaardersveld near Lelystad was slaughtered today. According to Staatsbosbeheer, the horses had become intrusive towards visitors and that could lead to dangerous situations.
The Konik horses lived in an area adjacent to the Oostvaardersplassen. According to forest ranger Hans-Erik Kuypers of Staatsbosbeheer, they had been frequently approached, petted and fed by people in the past year. “The consequence of this is that the animals sometimes approach holidaymakers as a group, which comes across as threatening and can be dangerous,” he writes. “We don’t want to take the risk that accidents will happen.”
The herd had to leave the area, but because no other suitable areas are available, the animals have been slaughtered, writes Broadcasting Flevoland. Staatsbosbeheer did not find a good alternative to sell the horses to private individuals. “These animals are used to a relatively large habitat, where they can live in social groups in the most natural way possible,” writes Kuypers.
Do not approach or pet
There are now 26 Konik horses left in the southern part of the nature reserve. They are accompanied by two harems from the catchment area in the core area of the Oostvaardersplassen. These are horses that are not used to people, keep their distance and do not approach people.
Staatsbosbeheer makes an urgent appeal to visitors to keep their distance from the horses. “Look at the animals, enjoy them, but don’t feed, approach or pet them. Feeding makes the animals show intrusive behavior towards people,” says the ranger.
“Then we will be forced, just like now, in the interest of the safety of our visitors, to remove the intrusive animals from the area. If we don’t have a place in other areas, they go to slaughter.”
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