Penticton's wild horses raid elementary school grounds, pen students in
Some 600 feral horses live in the area and school staff often have to chase them off with an air horn
Schoolchildren at West Bench elementary school in Penticton, B.C. are being put at risk because of wild horses that consistently raid the school grounds.
Approximately 600 feral horses live in the area and whilst no children have been hurt yet, school staff are routinely forced to hold students inside while they chase horses away, sometimes using an air horn.
"Sometimes when they've been able to get into the school grounds, whether a gate's been left open or something of that sort, we have to be concerned about animals coming into conflicts with young people," said Zoe Kirk, Project Manager with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, in an interview on CBC Radio One's Daybreak South.
"As it stands to this point, we haven't had any serious conflicts."
School District 67 Chair Linda Van Alphen says the problem has been persisting for years and it's time to come up with a meaningful and lasting solution.
"This is a community problem, not only for the school, but for the residents of West Bench ... it is longstanding, it's not something that just happened over night," she said.
As for the Penticton Indian Band, Coun. Dolly Kruger says members of her band would like to see the feral horse population controlled.
"Our community members do see the horse as something that has always been a part of our culture and our being ... they want to see the horse population managed, downsized and maintained at a certain level and not having 600 head of horses running out on the land," Kruger said.
West Bench elementary staff say the wild horses get onto the school grounds 10 to 12 times per year.
To hear the full story, listen to the audio labelled: Wild Horses a growing safety concern for Penticton students.