A wild stallion who made headlines last week for his dramatic fights with another horse was hit by a vehicle and fatally injured Friday night on the northern beaches of the Outer Banks.
Authorities received a call at 11:30 p.m. from a surf-fishing visitor who witnessed a side-by-side utility terrain vehicle hit a horse standing on the beach near milepost 20, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund said in a social media post.
The driver fled the scene, but bystanders gave a detailed description and the UTV registration returned to 57-year-old Porter Williamson of Chesapeake, said Currituck County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jeff Walker.
While towing the UTV, deputies saw Williamson return to the scene, but he fled again and was caught after a short foot pursuit, Walker said. Williamson was charged with resisting, delaying or obstructing law enforcement and jailed on a $10,000 bond. Deputies also charged his wife, Rhonda Williamson, on the same charge for “false information to law enforcement,” Walker said. She was jailed on a $5,000 bond.
Bullwinkle, a 10-year-old stallion, suffered skin trauma, a broken right hind leg with fracture of the lower femur, left hind trauma and internal injuries from the force of impact, the CWHF said.
“Bullwinkle’s injuries were severe and ultimately fatal. Our veterinarian arrived on the scene early Saturday morning to humanely euthanize him,” said the CWHF, which manages the herd of about 100 wild mustangs roaming the northernmost beaches and swamps of the Outer Banks.
Last week, the CWHF posted a video of Bullwinkle fighting with another stallion, vying for the older stallion’s mares.
“He was in the prime of his life, and went from being a symbol of what it means to be wild and free to a tragic example of how irresponsible, reckless human behavior can cause pain, suffering, and irreparable damage to the herd in an instant,” the horse fund wrote. “Bullwinkle will never produce any foals. His genetics are gone from the herd forever and with such a small, endangered population the ramifications of that will last for generations.”
Meg Puckett, herd manager for the wild horse fund, said Bullwinkle died as he lived: wild.
“At no point did he welcome our intervention and he remained wary and defensive even as he laid on the dune unable to stand anymore,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “The fight drive that he was always known for never left him, right up to the end. He was exactly what a wild Banker stallion is supposed to be, and we are glad that he at least never had to leave the beach — he was never meant to.”
Bullwinkle was buried this weekend at the edge of the meadow where he was filmed last week fighting for a harem of his own.
