Major wetland in Greece, in the northeast of the country along the Turkish border, the Evros delta is seeing its balance crack under the combined effects of climate disruption and the lack of public management. Wild horses are dying there due to a lack of fresh water, while fishermen and breeders are falling into precariousness. Associations and residents are alerting to the urgency of restoring the dike destroyed in 2014, the only sustainable solution to halt the degradation of the site.
Index IA: Library of Mediterranean Knowledge
In the Evros Delta, wild horses trapped by drought and inaction
22-med – November 2025
• In the Evros delta, Greece, the break of a dike in 2014 disrupted the hydrology and condemned wild horses to drink water that has become salty.
• Associations, fishermen, and breeders are warning: without urgent repair, the ecosystem, the local economy, and the animals will remain in peril.
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Due to its position, at the confluence of the river and the sea, the Evros Delta constitutes a vast wetland habitat essential to regional biodiversity. However, for several years, this ecosystem, although protected, has been subjected to progressive degradation, the most glaring manifestation of which is observed in the Ainisi delta, an area of about 18,000 hectares where wild horses live. The break of the dike in 2014, following heavy storms, permanently disrupted the hydrological balance: fresh water can no longer be retained, flows towards the sea, and gradually allows salty water to invade inland.
Horses condemned to drink salty water
Initially, the ecosystem resisted as best as it could. But in the last two years, the combination of prolonged drought, decreased precipitation, and high temperatures has drained the last reserves of fresh water. Isolated in the heart of the Ainisi Delta, wild horses have found themselves without access to safe drinking water. Forced to drink increasingly saline water, they have developed serious health issues, leading to repeated deaths.
“This year, five wild horses have died, just like last year. And during this period, we, as the Ainisi Delta Association, have volunteered to try to save the animals. At first, we transported water with buckets and passed it across with our boats, as there is no access path for the horses trapped inside the Delta. We built makeshift reservoirs ourselves so they could drink,” explains the association's president, Nikos Mousounakis.
Under pressure from volunteers, local authorities eventually intervened, but partially. The municipality of Alexandroupoli and the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace transported water by tanker trucks to an accessible point. They then left the heavy task of final distribution to the association, which was carried out with its own means, including generators, pumps, and equipment.
A fragile and temporary improvement
Recent precipitation has temporarily improved the situation. Fresh water has returned in some areas, and the horses can once again drink without immediate danger. “At the moment, the horses are drinking fresh water and have no problems,” notes Nikos Mousounakis, while specifying that the soil has not yet rebuilt sufficient reserves to ensure lasting safety. Without repair of the dike, the return of summer drought could quickly plunge the delta back into the same crisis.
For the Ainisi Delta Association, the solution is clear: only the restoration of the dike will allow for the sustainable retention of fresh waters. “It must be repaired immediately. We are pushing for it to be done this winter, so we can retain fresh waters,” insists its president, reminding that the responsibility lies with the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. He adds: “We will not abandon the wild horses, even if we have to repeat our volunteer actions next year. But this cannot be a permanent solution. We all have jobs. It is not fair to neglect them to act in place of the State. The dike was destroyed in 2014. The next day, work should have begun. We were told about studies. It has been eleven years, and nothing has been done.”
An asphyxiated local economy
The crisis does not only concern wildlife. The alteration of the hydrological regime affects the entire local economy. Freshwater fish, once abundant, can no longer survive in waters that have become too salty. Trapped, they die, leaving fishermen without income for two years, with no viable prospects for conversion.
Breeders are also severely affected. Due to a lack of water and sufficient pastures, free-grazing cattle had to be moved away from the delta. Their owners are forced to keep them in stabling (housing under shelter for farm animals) and to finance the purchase of feed themselves. “Those who used to sustain their herds through natural grazing are now paying every day for their feed. They are suffocated by their economic activity,” emphasizes Nikos Mousounakis.
This situation is no longer just an environmental crisis. It is becoming social and transforming a territory that once supported entire generations into an area marked by economic insecurity and a sense of abandonment.
A persistent administrative blur
To this fragilization is added institutional uncertainty. The responsibility for the management and protection of wild horses, as well as that of the delta as a whole, remains poorly defined. The animals are not recognized as a wild breed but are considered domestic outside urban areas, creating a blur between the municipality's competencies and those of the region. At the same time, the awaited decisions from the central administration in Athens fuel a game of passing the buck and prolong inaction. The residents of the Ainisi delta assert that they will not let the wild horses disappear. But as long as the survival of such a strategic ecosystem relies solely on the mobilization of volunteers and the randomness of rains, the crisis will remain whole. Because a delta cannot be sustainably protected with buckets and generators: it requires clear, assumed, and operational political will.
Cover photo: Nikos Mousounakis provides fresh water to wild horses using makeshift reservoirs © Nikos Mousounakis