Saskatchewan is not known for its wild horses, and Ross Rackel of Maymont Beach in the RM of Meota wants it to stay that way.
Like the elk that wander by as you fill up your car with gas in Banff, the wandering horses of the RM of Meota have become a prominent feature around the towns and First Nation communities which make up the municipality. Over the past month a herd of around 40 horses has taken to bedding down in front yards and using garages to satisfy itches.
It's not a situation Rackel wants to get used to, he says, especially considering the danger to passing motorists.
"It's like hitting a moose," he says, referring to the top-heavy animal known to crush cars when collided with.
In the last month, three of the loose horses have been hit, including one colt, and Reckel says he wants the RM to act before someone gets seriously injured or dies.
Theresa Harty, administrator for the Resort Village of Cochin, says truck drivers who travel through the village on Highway 4 have stopped into the office to ask what's being done.
"I've had several truckers in here saying 'is there anything you can do? Either I'm going to kill them or they're going to kill somebody.'"
Several weeks ago Harty had a close call with the horses herself.
"You'll be driving down the highway in the dark and their eyes do not shine like a moose. You can't see them until they're right in front of you," says Harty.
"I was on the highway one night coming from the north back into Cochin and there was a car in front of me and the taillights disappeared, literally, and I thought 'what the heck' and no sooner did I think that was I hitting the breaks [to stop from hitting] six horses. All I could see was their legs in front of my grill."
Eleanor Moccasin of neighbouring Saulteaux First Nation Reserve says she's concerned for people's safety.
"Our window faces the highway and I see traffic: semis, school buses. Who's going to get hurt one of these times like my husband almost did when he was coming home at night?
"It's unsafe because of how many people from the community I live — and Glaslyn, Aquadeo — how many people use the highway."
Moccasin says the problem isn't unique and a few years ago a neighbour lost her husband after a collision with a horse, but she wants to see the horses caught before something like that happens again.
The difficulty this time around is the amount of horses that need to be wrangled. Over the past month action hasn't been taken by the RM to contain the herd because, Rackel says, they haven't been able to find someone up to the job of rounding up 40 or so horses.
According to Rackel, who received a call from a representative of the RM just prior to our interview, a wrangler has been found and has agreed to round up the herd.
According to Saskatchewan's Stray Animals Act, the municipality is responsible for restraining the horses. After that, if the owner does not come forward in the two weeks following their capture, the horses will be released from the pound and put up for sale at public auction. If the owner of the horses is known, he or she will face penalties of up to $100 a day per animal.
Calls to RCMP and RM of Meota were not returned by press time.
