Assateague mare Wildfire has to be euthanized after valiant effort to save her

The Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company has announced the death of mare Wildfire, who had to be euthanized after losing use of her back legs.

Here's the heroic effort that went into the effort to save Wildfire.

Firefighters alerted to possible mare down on Assateague

At about 7 a.m. Wednesday firefighters and herd caretakers were alerted to a possible mare down in the marsh on the South End of Assateague Island. The mare was Wildfire.

Found down in the marsh and unable to stand on her own, she presented classical hypo-calcemia which has occurred in the past and is fairly treatable under normal circumstances, according to the fire department.

Luckily, a veterinarian and horse vet tech were on site for a boat cruise volunteered to help in any way possible. They proceeded to start procuring the calcium gluconate that is required and began moving resources and equipment over to Assateague.

The pony was located in the middle of the marsh in mud and muck, which did not help her condition. The vet volunteers helped firefighters make Wildfire as comfortable as possible in the mud and started administering the calcium. A salvage cover was used as a makeshift sled to tow the pony on top of the tarp to high ground.

Once on high ground and drying off, volunteers had to get more medicine because the effects seemed to be back again, and sometimes it requires more. Once all of the meds were given and all seemed a little better, an effort was made to get her standing, but to no avail.

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Volunteers build an archway to help Wildfire try to stand

At about 2 p.m., materials were assembled to build an archway to hoist her in the air to get blood flow and help her stand. One arch didn’t work, the back end couldn’t get high enough. Even through this ordeal, Wildfire let her filly nurse while on the ground.

At this point, sundown was approaching and volunteers gave one last effort to raise her back end by creating one more arch to completely support her from front and back. Once that was finished, they began to hoist and successfully got her to the point where she could stand, but her back legs had not moved and she lacked the signs of some normal bodily functions. Volunteers attempted another calcium IV at 9:30 p.m. and although she improved physically her back end never showed signs of life.

Volunteers decided that in the interest of the foal and to give her a chance to destress and possibly heal, they would let her rest overnight and return in the morning to see if there was any improvement.

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A 'silver lining' after Wildfire has to be euthanized

They returned Thursday morning to find the same problem as the day before, front legs but no back end, so the department's veterinarian recommended euthanasia. Wildfire was transported to Chincoteague to the Leonard Farm, where she was humanely euthanized.

Once volunteers returned to Assateague, the next struggle was to see if they could get the foal to nurse one of our mares who already has a foal. They were able to convince Esther Jane (EJ) to allow Wildfire’s filly to nurse alongside her foal, which the department described on Facebook as the "silver lining of this whole incredibly difficult situation."

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Assateague mare Wildfire has to be euthanized after valiant effort to save her