About Us

OUR MISSION:

For the Ferals Society is a non-profit organization that promotes the health and wellbeing of the horses and the Syilx Okanagan people through herd management, collaboration with community, cultural revitalization and reconnection with Tmixʷ (All living things). 

Our current focus is supporting the community living on the Okanagan Indian Band Reserve to maintain a healthy and sustainable herd population on the rangelands, by assisting with veterinary care when needed, supplementing food during seasons of difficult forage, rescuing and/or rehabilitating horses that are not able to survive on the range. 

OUR PURPOSE:

We believe if we work in unity with one another we can provide safety, care and liberty for the horses, bring back and highlight our people's connection to horse medicine and address the stigma that Indigenous people on the reserve face from settlers outside of the community. The heart of For the Ferals is to uplift our community by caring for the horses, the people and the land. 

OUR GOALS:

• Assess community needs by connecting and building relationships with members living in the area and members who own horses
• Decrease rangeland depletion, encourage land healing/regrowth and increase forage by redirecting horses graze area during the fall and winter months through herd management. This lessens the competition between horses and other livestock or wild animals on the rangeland. 
• Maintain a healthy horse population that doesn't overwhelm the rangeland and forage by gelding of studs. Branding horses, to ensure identification through brand inspection and prevent rustling. Through this, we hope to eventually get an estimate number of horses on the range, and to identify when horses might be abandoned on the range.
• Prevent theft of horses on the rangeland by outside organizations/personnel who collect profits without redistributing any into OKIB community  
• Keep as many horses living in their natural habitat on the range as possible
• Avoid any unnecessary deaths of horses  
• Build a secure facility that can house horses less likely to survive on the range during winter months and provides a space for healing and rehabilitating horses that need it throughout the year. Horses that can be turned back out onto the range after rehabilitation will be
• Only re-home horses when we are unable to provide the horse the care and treatment it needs
• Support livestock owners who are experiencing challenges in caring for their horses
• Collaborate with OKIB bylaw to advocate for policies that protect and ensure the safety and health of  herds 
• Work with OKIB to support the cultural revitalization of horse medicine 
• Collaborate, support and work with other equine organizations in alignment with our goals, values and respects our guiding principles 
• Provide opportunities for community members to become involved in herd management through horsemanship training, joining in on chasing or wrangling and feeding horses
• Educate community members on the importance of herd management 
• Provide job opportunities to OKIB members  
• Increase language knowledge for the community through collaboration with Elders and Knowledge Keepers Provide healing ceremonies that promote reconnection to horse medicine 
• Destigmatize settler views of reserve land, specifically around livestock care 
• Host events that connect the community 

WHERE ARE WE AT?

Although the founder of For the Ferals, Devyn, has been supporting and advocating for the community and horses for 8+ years, we are in the beginning stages of building this non-profit with long term and sustainable goals. Our focus is on building a strategic plan that includes a facility that will allow us to sustain our work throughout the year and preparing for the 2023 season round up.

We have built a strong team of passionate, driven and caring people who are working tirelessly to secure funds, build relationships with community members to hear their vision and support as many horses as we can with the little resources we have.  At this stage, we rely heavily on donations, sponsors, volunteers and community members offering their skills and time in kind. We hope as we continue our journey, we can continue building support and step into new possibilities.

OUR VISION:

We envision For the Ferals Society supporting the community through multiple different programming opportunities in one place. A facility to maintain the horses that need it and provide equine therapy + education, a cultural community hub to gather, visit and host educational series, and a workshop shed that encourages youth and community members to learn how to build and fix things like fencing, horse stalls, barns and sheds. Our vision includes providing job opportunities for OKIB members. We see the collaboration with others that align and support us in building a farm and garden that produces a food sovereignty program. Through this, we hope to provide opportunities to facilitate cultural teachings on foraging, gardening, canning and preparing for winter harvests from Elders and Knowledge Keepers. 

We believe that if we work together, and keep our ears open on what is needed in community, we can help provide solutions that meet those needs. Through connection with horse medicine, we can also connect with each other and build each other up for our future.