"The horses of Cumberland are struggling in an environment inhospitable to their ability to live," the plaintiffs in the case — Georgia Equine Rescue League Ltd., the Georgia Horse Council Inc., Center for Biological Diversity Southeast Director Will Harlan, Cumberland Island resident Carol Ruckdeschel, and even the horses themselves — wrote last Friday in a filing [attached below] asking for the emergency food and water.

In support of the request, the plaintiffs cited National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration data that this past June was the driest in the area over the past 130 years and that natural seeps and ponds were either depleted or dry. The 25-page filing also alleged that Park Service staff hid the bodies of two horses that had died.

The National Park Service encounters a conumdrum when trying to manage horses in the National Park System.

Horses have been part of this landscape since the 1700s, and in recounting that history, the Park Service acknowledges that they're not native to the island ecosystem. 

Because the matter is being litigated, the Park Service has declined to discuss the condition of the horses or their impacts on the national seashore. Park Service managers in the past have, however, told the Traveler that the horses were in good health.

In an April 2023 email to the Traveler, then-Superintendent Gary Ingram wrote that, "[T]he National Park Service has monitored the horses on Cumberland Island National Seashore annually with population census techniques since 1981. Condition ratings for observed animals have been predominantly in the 'good' to 'moderate' categories. At no time during the last 41+ years have there been findings indicating that the overall health of the herd was in extremely poor condition."

However, a 2018 Park Service report cited concerns about impacts the herd of 100 or so horses were having on the national seashore:

Studies of horse impacts at CUIS have found that grazing activity, including vegetation consumption and trampling, significantly reduces vegetative cover, growth, and reproduction in these habitats (Turner 1986, Dolan 2002). Grazing also appears to be altering plant species composition and is likely increasing the vulnerability of dunes and salt marshes to erosion and storm damage (Turner 1986, Dolan 2002). In addition to impacts on vegetation, feral horses compact wetland soils, altering soil properties (e.g., infiltration rates) and disturbing vital soil-dwelling organisms (Noon and Martin 2004). The wastes produced by horses contribute to nutrient enrichment or eutrophication of wetlands and waterbodies, and can contaminate waters with pathogens, including E. coli bacteria (Noon and Martin 2004). Together, these impacts make wetland habitats less favorable for native plants, fish, herpetofauna, and invertebrates. 

Read the National Park Service's report on impacts caused by the horses.

Since the lawsuit was filed, the Justice Department has tried to have it dismissed, arguing at one point that it doesn't see itself liable for the horses trampling on the nests of endangered species, such as piping plovers and loggerhead sea turtles.

"Defendants are unaware of any cases in which a court has held that a federal agency is liable for a take of one animal perpetrated by another animal," DOJ's lawyers wrote in their unsuccessful bid. "Plaintiffs cannot show that the horses effected a take or committed an offense under Section 9 of the [Endangered Species Act] because the take prohibition applies only to persons."

The 2018 Park Service report, however, noted that the "[F]eral horses will continue to be a threat to the native mammals of the island as long as the population is left unmanaged."

The plaintiffs noted that point in their latest filing, pointing out that the Park Service "has refused to manage the horses despite the NPS’s own recognition that 'as long as the population is left unmanaged' the horses will continue to have a significant adverse 'impact on the [Cumberland Island National Seashore] ecosystem.'”

The filing also claims that because the Park Service does not provide the horses with any care, "[M]any of the horses on Cumberland do not live past 9 years, much less reach the age of 30 plus years of an average domestic horse."

The plaintiffs want the judge to order the Park Service to provide the horses with hay, fresh water, and mineral blocks while the litigation is ongoing. The defendants have until Friday to reply to the filing.

To raise awareness about the matter, Wild Cumberland, a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of the national seashore's long-term stewardship and preservation, produced the following video.