Assateague Island Alliance awarded grant for “A Fed Horse is a Dead Horse” initiative

Assateague Island National Seashore has a problem and isn't anything new. Visitors who come to visit, tend to feed horses. 

But this learned behavior has created some issues. The horses are getting crafty and finding new ways to raid those coolers.

Officials say they are trying to make it a thing of the past, in order to protect their wildlife and their guests.

And with a new grant, they are getting one step closer to achieving that. It's a $10,000 grant from Eastern National for their initiative called "A Fed Horse is a Dead Horse".

It's led by the Assateague Island Alliance, a non profit organization dedicated to protecting these wild horses.

The outreach coordinator for AIA, Ashlie Kozlowski says, "The short term is to keep the horses from getting food, keeping the negative interactions at a minimum between human and horses. But the long term is to dishabituate horses, so they no longer associate humans with food."

Their latest grant will  go toward things like cooler straps, that prevent curious horses from taking over. Another part of their initiative, creating customized picnic tables. They'll be salt resistant and it will even keep the food ventilated. 

They hope to replace each and every single existing picnic table. 

And after one horse died last season, this initiative became a focal point. 

"To really help us change behavior on Assateague Island, we want to change the horses behavior and we want to change our visitors behavior. We haven't been able to find the magic touch that really helps stop that behavior, so we're really excited for this grant to give us that opportunity," Liz Davis, Assateague's Public Information Officer tells us. 

The entire project is over $100,000 but we're told this recent grant will be a way to get other agencies to match that grant.

As for the final product, it all depends on when they can get the money raised and hire the crew to build and install the tables. We're told they are trying to begin this July

Furthermore, park officials ask that you keep food away from the horses and stand a bus length away. 

If you want to donate to their GoFundMe page, click here.