On June 3, the full U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass legislation that would help protect a herd of wild horses residing on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. But the executive director of the organization that manages the herd says the battle to ensure the horses’ future is only half won.

More than 100 feral horses in the so-called Corolla herd reside on the Carrituck Outer Banks; 70% of those reside on lands owned by private individuals and corporations while the remainder resides on a 7,500-acre sanctuary in the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge. The nonprofit Corolla Wild Horse Fund (CWHF) manages the animals while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the refuge. Under an existing agreement between the Interior Department, the state of North Carolina, Currituck County, and the CWHF, the maximum number of horses allowed in the herd is 60.

Elsewhere on the Outer Banks, a herd of more than 110 wild horses currently resides at the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

In January 2013, North Carolina Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. introduced HR 126, the Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act, which would allow a small number of free-roaming wild horses from the Cape Lookout National Seashore herd to be introduced as necessary to maintain the genetic viability of the herd in and around the refuge. The legislation also calls for a public-private management agreement plan for the horses that allows would allow a herd population of no more than 130 horses with a target herd population of between 120 and 130 animals