The Wildlife of Sable Island
Home to wild horses, Grey Seals and the Ipswich Sparrow
Visitors to Sable Island are restricted by strict government guidlines, the animals however, are free live undisturbed in this wildlife haven.
In 1801 the Canadian government limited access to Sable Island in order to stop the plundering of hundreds of shipwrecks that lie in the waters surrounding the island. By doing this they also created a wildlife haven on this small island that is located 300 kilometers south east of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The wildlife at Sable is completely unmanaged and has been protected since 1961 by the Sable Island Regulations of the Canada Shipping Act. Visitors to the island are few and must follow strict guidelines designed to ensure that the wildlife remains undisturbed.
In 1737 Reverend Andrew LeMercier sent the first horses to graze on Sable Island. They were promptly stolen.
Twenty-three years later, in 1760, Thomas Hancock left 60 horses to graze on Sable. The horses most likely belonged to the Acadian families who were expelled from Nova Scotia by the British. Hancock provided transport for the Acadians to the American Colonies and probably intended to return for the horses but he never did. Instead the horses were left to roam free on the island.
Sable horses were sold occasionally at market in Halifax between 1801 and 1940 but they did not bring high prices. They proved more useful in their role as primary transportation for the life saving crews stationed on the island because of the frequent shipwrecks at Sable.
In 1960 parliament ruled that the horses on Sable Island should be left alone after reports that the horses were to be rounded up and sold for dog food created a public uproar and a letter writing campaign.
Today there are 200 to 350 wild horses on the island living in 40 to 50 herds but they are not the only protected animals on Sable Island.
Arctic and Roseate Terns, gulls, sandpipers, plovers (a bird which resembles a sandpiper), black ducks and mergansers also call Sable home. Sable Island is the only known breeding ground for the rare Ipswich Sparrow. The birds are protected by the Migratory Birds Convention Act and by Canada's Federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations and live undisturbed on the island.
Joining the birds and the horses at Sable is the world's largest group of breeding Grey Seals and a small group of Harbour Seals. The seals feed on the large numbers of fish, which fill the waters around the island. The Federal Fisheries Act protects both the fish and the seals. Unfortunately, there is no protection for the seals from the sharks, which hunt off the island's shores; sharks kill approximately 100 seals each year.
Sable Island, known as the graveyard of the Atlantic, may be a sailor's worst nightmare but for the wildlife that call the island home, Sable is an island paradise.
Sources
museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/sableisland accessed Aug 3 2007
greenhorsesociety.com/Horses.htm accessed Aug 8 2007
ns.ec.gc.ca/reports/sable.html accessed Aug 8 2007
svep.com/cgi-bin/getpage?pageid=1/8/1 accessed Aug 8 2007
greenhorsesociety.com/visitors/sable_island accessed Aug 8 2007
