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In a tug-of-war over the wild horses of Sable Island, horse lovers and romantics are squaring off against scientists and ecologists who call the iconic animals an invasive species responsible for wreaking havoc on the island’s ecosystem.

Introduced to the islands centuries ago, the horses have earned an almost mythological reputation among Maritimers, derived from a legend that claims the horses swam ashore after the ship carrying them was wrecked at sea during a storm. Now 400 of them roam the 34-square-kilometre island.

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The reality is far less dreamy — the first Sable Island horses were farm animals, probably confiscated from the Acadians during their expulsion from the Maritimes in the 18th century.

But the legend prevails, and now Ian Jones, a researcher specializing in the ecosystems of such remote islands as Sable, finds himself up against a public that he says has an idealized perception of the horses.