HARKERS ISLAND, N.C. (WNCN) — National park officials said the wild horses on a North Carolina island gave birth to 14 foals in 2024, according to an annual report.

Cape Lookout National Seashore issued its 2024 report on the Shackleford Banks Horses earlier this month.

Shackleford Banks is the southernmost island in the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which covers the southern Outer Banks between Beaufort Inlet and Ocracoke Inlet.

Outer Banks wild horses are also at Corolla and Ocracoke Island, where they live in an 180-acre enclosure.

In 2024, the population of Shackleford Banks wild horses was 119, which is just under the legislated target range of 120 to 130 horses, the report said.

Since 2005, the year-end population has ranged between 105 and 126 at Shackleford Banks, which is 3 miles offshore and only accessible by private boat or passenger ferry.

While there were 14 births in 2024, 11 horses died with a herd mortality rate of 9%, according to the report.

“This is above the 6% average mortality from 1999 through 2024, inclusive, but does not change that average,” officials said in the report.

The deaths included a 29-year-old stallion, who was the oldest male in the herd and lived a decade longer than most males.

Other horses who died included a 25-year-old mare and a 17-year-old stallion.

“Two 6-year-old mares passed: one is suspected to have died of a natural injury and the other was euthanized for a hip injury. Two 4-year-old females died: one failed to thrive and the other was euthanized because she was, in the opinion of the attending veterinarian, also failing to thrive and suffering,” the report said.

In the recent past, people visiting the island have bothered some horses with an incident in 2022 in which visitors tried to pull a newborn stallion into a boat after the horse followed them. In 2020, three tourists tried to capture a month-old wild foal in an attempt to take some photos.

The 2024 annual report stressed that a public education campaign that started in 2011 is continuing.

It’s illegal to be within 50-feet of the wild horses in the Shackleford Banks, which is about 8 miles long and ranges from less than a half mile wide to nearly 1.5 miles wide where the eastern marsh islands are included.

“The general message is to watch the horses without interacting with them or interrupting their natural behavior,” park officials said.

At the end of 2024, the herd was 61% female and 39% male, the report said.

“Part of the reason that there are more females is that some females are living longer. All 17 of the horses 20 years of age and older are female; the oldest male is 19,” park officials said.

The oldest horse living on the island is a 30-year-old mare who has three generations of descendants.

“Contraception has been linked to increased longevity among treated females,” according to the report.

The horses are cooperatively managed by the park and the nonprofit Foundation for Shackleford Horses Inc.