Last days for the wild horses in Letea forest

I'm speechless. Two years ago I wrote about the wild horses in Letea forest, as a response to a great video I found on youtube. The authors, Lucian Reniţă and Irina Stelea, were explaining that they eat trees crust and this might cause death of some trees. However, the horses, allegedly released sometimes in the '80s, adapted to the very tough conditions in Danube Delta's winters and evolved into a real genetic patrimony of Romania.

I was telling my colleagues from allover Europe about them and about the unique place that Danube Delta is.

However, few days ago, some smart ass (Romanian authorities, but I couldn't tell exactly who and why, I'm trying to find out) decided the horses should be killed. Yes, killed. The official reason is that some of them suffer from horses' anemia; however, without waiting for analyses from the laboratory they are paying villagers up to 100 lei (25 EUR !) per horse, so the very poor people inhabiting the area capture the horses, claim themselves as owners of the animals and put them together waiting to be killed with really inhuman crudity. 

This pictures might help having an idea about the way Romanian people in that area treat animals. No animal deserves this treatment, less the poor horses.
By the time I'm writing this 50 of the 71 horses captured so far are in a truck heading probably for a slaughterhouse somewhere in the west Romania. I repeat, this happens even though the lab analyses arrived and indicated they have no horses anemia. 21 remained there and are waiting to be killed during the coming days.

Here is another video shot with this beautiful animals.

Here is a new Facebook community aiming to do something about this and here is a petition for saving the horses in the Danube Delta. Here is a reportage made by a one of the biggest Romanian TV channels.

Update: After reading some more I understand the problem is the big number of horses (latest numbers indicate about 4000) and the damage they do over the species of plants. Apparently, due to the fear of infectious anemia they cannot be moved to other areas or used by the people. This I can understand and I can also understand the need of a balance in this very sensitive eco-system. However, I cannot understand the way they are killed, without waiting for lab results and without looking for a better solution.

Wild Horses in Letea

Letea forest is a striclty protected area, for it's unique aspect of rainforest. One of the things to see in the forest are the almost wild horses.
While the semi-wild horses are present allover the Danube Delta, lately they become subject of discussion due to the rising number.

I have seen them near Cardon, in an area that is to become protected area soon. I've been told that some of them recognize the initial owner, but there are now new generations that are really not used to man's presence at all.

The author of this movie explains that the horses eat tree's crust and this eventually leads to the death of the trees. Some estimate around 2500 horses, while other estimation indicate about 1000. This horses have the way of life of wild animals. Is very difficult to get close to them, because they can imediately feel you and once you get under a certain distance they run away scared.

Each herd is led by a pair that takes care of the rest of the group. The stallion has the biggest authority, being the one that signals the fact that they have to move (retire). It does this by a short neighing and by hitting the ground with the hoof. Sometimes, when they feel the group is in danger, the stallion runs in one direction, to attire the attackers , while the female runs in other direction together with the rest of the group.

The horses did adapt the tough winter in Danube Delta as well as the hot summers. In winter-time them hair grows three times faster than the domestic horses' one. They adapt also by better prelucrating the cellulose, so when the food is scarce they can resist with only thistles and dried plants. "Nowadays, the racing horses loose the resistance to diseases, to cold temperatures or the capacity of effort. In the future, this horses will become a real treasure, still conserving while the other horses will have lost. We don't have to regard them as baneful but as real treasures", declared Stefan Raileanu, from the National Institute of Research and Development of Danube Delta.

Here is the video, courtesy to Lucian Reniţă and Irina Stelea, who made this video and posted it on youtube: