A couple years ago there was a Craigslist ad in East Texas for 3 of them. In my quest at that time for the perfect Appaloosa 
, I remember seeing the ad for weeks.
I did not even consider the rarity of them or their situation.
Ironically, all I could think was, “WHO wants one of those?”
Wasn’t there a zoo in OK was advertising having a couple of these horses on their safari drive through?
Arbuckle Wilderness
She is 14. People found her Fb account and she turned off the comments after that.
I don’t know, but the more I learn about OK, the more crazier that state sounds. Wasn’t Joe Exotic from OK?
What is in the water over there.
Fiona at Lazy B Equine Rescue and Santuary is 100% Przewalski !!
They posted the results as well as the email thread between the rescue and the vet at A&M that did the DNA test. (which can be found on the FB page, link below)
I would then assume that the stallion the 14 yr old has is also 100% Przewalski. They both orginated from a kill pen auction from OK. While the kid/kid’s family purchased the stallion, the mare, Fiona was owner surrendered to the rescue since she was too wild to handle.
I read somewhere (maybe even one of the references noted above) that due to differences in chromosomes that modern horses and Prezewalski horses cannot reproduce. So the kid with the stallion is only fooling themself by planning on standing it at stud.
Unfortunately, while the Prze and modern horses DO have different chromosome numbers, they can and will produce viable, fertile hybrids. Though why anyone would want a hybrid is beyond me.
These horses should be in good conservation programs in zoos or similar. Not owned by the public.
I thought the stallion came from an auction in KS and the surrendered mare from one in Utah.
I may have the state wrong and it was a OK auction, but I thought they both came from the same auction.
Its hard to go back and see, since the kid deleted her comments on her SM posts. They both surfaced around the same time on Social Media.
I think the stallion came from a Kansas auction.
This story made it into the Washington Post this morning:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/08/09/przewalskis-horses-rescued-dna-shrek-fiona/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEljcFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSkSz7U9N23oQNXDrRK2llzWQMfBd_oZrMZ4iE7KsWkW_-3tH4ZvdNMHGg_aem_lKLniCDxLACzyjbtDKzB-g
Hopefully some national attention will mean an organization that already has a small herd of these would step up with interest in them?
The Smithsonian biologist mentioned there is a close genetic monitoring in breeding them in captivity. So would it be possible to DNA test these two, like you can DNA test a TB to verify parentage on them? I’d think that would also provide a big clue where they came from.
My coworker regaled me with stories about the rich idiot with the lions out here in BFE Kentucky. Got loose at regular intervals, complained about, finally vanished.
yes. Zoos and institutions participate in the International stud book in an effort to monitor and trade animals for breeding. The Prague Zoo keeps the book for the Przewalski . the linked article has a further link talking about Prague Zoos reintroduction of horses out onto the steppe. I hope they have some effort going to try and figure these horses out
Are there any updates? I can’t read the WAPO article. Is the mare going to someone responsible? Is the stallion real? Did the parents of the 14 year old step up and offer to do the right thing? Honestly, I would have yanked my kid off of social media as soon as the story broke. She doesn’t need that sort of attention.
Huckabay is the stallion owner and Bjorklunds have the mare at the rescue
Huckabay and the Bjorklunds plan to care for the horses as long as needed, but said they’d prefer to see their rescued Przewalski’s move to a professional conservation program.
Shrek is happy on the ranch, but Huckabay said she’d rather see him with “a herd of his own.”
“That would be the best-case scenario,” she said.
I do find it strange that both horses are apparently still in private hands, given that they are an endangered species and it is not legal for the average private citizen to own one. When are they going to be placed in an appropriate conservation herd? Where is US Fish and Wildlife in this mess?
I do hope we get a true update eventually one that shows the horses have been placed in an appropriate setting, and that serious efforts are being made to track down how they wound up at auction facilities in the first place.
I believe private individuals can own them with permits.
I am not sure there’s a level of authority that’s going to be too heavily invested in seizing and rehoming said to be Przewalski’s horses that ended up at auction.
yep
hoofstock is pretty low on the list unless from a country with endemic Hoof and Mouth
True, but normally those permits are extremely difficult to get. Basically, the government wants species on the CITES Appendix 1 List to be owned by people who will keep them in a breeding situation.
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