Wayne McCrory has been fascinated by free-roaming horses since he first began studying them in 2001.
The B.C. biologist quickly learned the animals were an important part of the ecosystem and held cultural significance for local First Nations — even though they are treated by many as “destructive intruders,” he told CBC’s Radio West.
McCrory’s 20-plus years of research on horses in the Chilcotin plateau — a remote region in west-central B.C. — has now culminated in a book that he hopes will change people’s attitudes toward the animals.
The Wild Horses of the Chilcotin: Their History and Future chronicles instances of government-sanctioned culls like the 1896 Wild Horse Act that allowed the shooting of unbranded
