Warning – this will be a very raw post…
I sat here in tears this morning. Overwhelmed, exasperated, and doing everything I can to muster up some positive energy to get through the rest of my day and all I need to accomplish.
Last week’s Zoom meeting from Theodore Roosevelt National Park has cast a dark shadow over the future of this herd. We all see the direction that TRNP park management seems to be leaning with regards to the future of this herd. It is extremely disheartening to see my fellow “advocates” still putting the wishes of the park ahead of the viability of this herd.
While they are all out finding the new babies they are sharing on their Facebook pages, as part of the habits formed during the days of their partnership agreements to promote these horses so that when the time comes to sell off these babies, you have already fallen in love with them, we are here working with our lawyers, other national nonprofits groups, reading, studying and formulating our comment that is due by APRIL 15th that will be 30-40 pages long with over 1,000 pages of supporting documentation! In addition, we are talking to every member of the press that will listen to help raise awareness to this extremely critical time for the future of the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The truth is, the future of each of these new babies being born, as well as EVERY horse in this herd, is extremely uncertain. This wild horse management plan is long overdue! The current draft concept of “No Action” would mean that they continue to sell off the babies and leave what is an old herd to die off. Time will tell how many of the remaining mares have been permanently sterilized and maybe, if the herd ever gets to their unfounded target number of 30-70 horses, they will bring in some BLM horses – because the National Park Service, while stating that they will be formulating a management plan using “lessons learned” – still does not see any historical significance to this unique herd of wild horses.
We see the beauty of this amazing herd and we feel blessed to be able to share their amazing grace, beauty and FREEDOM with all of you all around the globe.
Imagine if at least 120 of these horses (if not more), from every age group, are rounded up and sold or donated to local native tribes. That was mentioned as a possibility on the Zoom call. Imagine that what remains is permanently sterilized and put behind an additional fence – where the NPS has offered to add an additional parking lot – so that instead of seeing these beautiful animals running wild and free throughout the only home they have ever known, they are now locked behind a fence in a zoo like setting.
That is NOT wild and free anymore.
Those are REAL possibilities that the park is exploring.
Those are REAL possibilities for the fate of our beloved wild horses in TRNP.
We have initiated change. CHANGE is needed. Selling off the babies and letting the older horses die off was the obvious unspoken management plan for these horses for the at least the last 13, if not 44 years.
We have the opportunity to make a significant change to the management of these horses and fight to make sure that future generations see them running wild and free like Theodore Roosevelt did and like we do today.
We are humble enough to say we do not have all of the answers. We know we need help to navigate through this process.
We believe the best way to navigate through this process is to have our legal team at Eubanks and Associates, PLLC working with us throughout this management planning process. There are several places throughout this process where IF things are NOT being done right, litigation is possible. We need their expertise to check over the reports that are forthcoming that will help mold and shape the management plan that will be in place for years to come.
Their legal services cost money and to have them with us through this entire process will be costly. We have already spent close to $10,000 on legal fees and we are just getting started!
Once decisions are made and this plan is in place, and the freedom of the wild horses of TRNP are lost, it will be too late to help them.
American Wild Horse Campaign has generously offered a $2000 matching grant to help our advocacy efforts! We hope you will help take advantage of this time to Double your impact and help these amazing horses.
There are several ways that you can donate to Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates – ANY of these options will be matched dollar for dollar from AWHC!! Every $1 counts now more than ever!
Hit that DONATE button on our Facebook page or our Facebook posts! (Please note that every new post we create on Facebook creates a new donation tracker. If you have made a post in the past, THANK YOU! Past donations do NOT count toward this new fundraising goal) https://www.facebook.com/ChasingHorsesWHA
Make a direct donation to Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates! We have added quick donation buttons starting at $5 on the homepage our website! http://www.chwha.org
Donate to our Go Fund Me Campaign! https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-chasing-horses-advocacy-efforts?member=15293411&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
We have been certified and verified as a nonprofit through Paypal! You can donate to us through Paypal here: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=YM4YWW5D4CRRY&fbclid=IwAR05vEvFkOq4eiOrT6Ufm4WlRCYclSli-k6Uu5_mxKHwoJoS57dFRnsekBY
Mail in your check or money order donation to:
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates
P.O. Box 3562
Dickinson, ND 58602
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates is a 501(c)3 organization which means that your donation is TAX DEDUCTABLE!!
Most importantly, there are NOW ONLY 10 days left to submit your comments to Theodore Roosevelt National Park! We will have sample comments available once our lawyers finish reading ours. American Wild Horse Campaign will also be publishing their own suggested comments soon as well! We will share that information as soon as it is available.
You can leave your comment with Theodore Roosevelt National Park here: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=167&projectID=105110&documentID=119270
Thank you for your support!
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates is committed to advocating for a wild horse management plan and protection for these unique wild horses that call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home! We are fighting for a management plan that is guided by science especially when it comes to decisions regarding the removal of horses and the administration of birth control. Many other wild horse management plans have proven to be successful with their science-based plans. We are asking for the same for this amazing group of wild horses that call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home.
I’ve left 2 lists for advocates. TRNP horses were here before bison, bison were brought in from another state