One of the smallest members of an eastern North Carolina wild horse herd was euthanized after developing an infection she couldn’t recover from, according to officials with the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.
Ceres was a six-week-old filly that contracted a severe case of pythiosis.
After noticing the wound on Monday, caretakers were initially unable to capture the foal, despite hours of exhaustive searching.
On Thursday, Ceres was located, sedated and loaded onto the horse trailer and taken back to the rescue farm, where a veterinarian determined the damage to her hoof and the bones in her lower leg was irreparable and had set into the bone.
Officials say pythiosis is not contagious. It comes from a fungus that grows on decaying plant matter in water.
They are asking property owners in the area to make sure there is nothing in their yards that the horses can get tangled in that could cause cuts and abrasions to their lower legs.
