BERLIN– A local nonprofit continues to raise money for a campaign to ensure human food is not accessed by the wild horses at Assateague.
Friends of Assateague State Park, a nonprofit that supports the facility, has now installed horse-resistant storage bins on about half of the park’s picnic tables. Fundraising is ongoing, as the nonprofit wants to retrofit all of the park’s 360 picnic tables through the “Break the Habit” campaign.
“The program’s going very well,” said Cathy Cox, a member of Friends of Assateague State Park. “It’s truly an education between the public and the horses.”
The nonprofit formally launched the “Break the Habit” campaign last summer. The initiative includes strong messaging that encourages park visitors to keep their distance from the barrier island’s wild horses and at the same time upgrades picnic tables so they include secure food storage compartments.
The campaign is a continuation of a similar effort being made at Assateague Island National Seashore, which started the “A Fed Horse is a Dead Horse” campaign in 2017 after a horse died after eating dog food. Seeing the success of the national park’s picnic table storage areas, state park officials decided to follow suit and volunteers started fundraising last year and have now been able to complete 142 tables. Grants from the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore and the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority will allow the nonprofit to retrofit even more. Friends of Assateague State Park also raffled off two pieces of donated Assateague themed art and have been selling “Collect the Herd” drinkware, stickers and magnets.
Friends of Assateague State Park (FOASP) members Cheryl Rodriguez and Cox, joined by dozens of other supporters, drew raffle winners and celebrated the progress of the “Break the Habit” initiative this week. Cox said that as the nonprofit sold raffle tickets at community events like the Ocean Pines Farmers Market, they’d had the opportunity to raise money as well as awareness.
“That was like an outreach program for us,” Cox said. “It’s just so important not to let the horses get into our food.”
For more information on FOASP, email [email protected] or visit the Friends of Assateague State Park Facebook page.