Hello and Happy Thursday to everyone!
It has been a crazy week and a half as we come into the finish line of the holiday season.
For most of us, this past week or so has been a week of shock, anger, frustration, disappointment and feel free to insert your own feelings/emotion here.
It seems like every day someone else sends us a message as they just come to realize what the fate of choice is for the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park as park management made their shocking announcement last week to eliminate ALL of the wild horses from the park!
We here at Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates have met as a board and we have been in talks with other national wild horse advocacy groups. We will continue to share information as we have it as well as information to help you formulate your own comment letter to the park.
We have added a Save the Wild Horses of TRNP page to our website. Here you will find all of the important information on how to comment, how to attend the public meeting on January 12, 2023. We have also added some great resources that you can use to support your comment letter.
About that comment letter…
Today, I propose something new.
Write your letter. Let it be RAW. Say what you need to. Swear if you have to. Let it out! This whole situation is extremely heartbreaking and frustrating. Don’t look for it to make sense – just let every emotion you are feeling flow through on the paper as you write your letter. LET.IT.OUT!
When you are done – check in with how you are feeling.
Feel better?
Then rip up or burn the letter.
Sometimes expressing the extremes of our feelings helps us to better focus on what we need to in order to make a stronger impact.
Next…
Spend at least the next few days celebrating in whatever way you and your family do during this holiday season. Life is short and nothing is guaranteed. That is part of the lesson in all of this.
We will continue to be here sharing information with all of you. You can catch up when you are ready.
We do believe we will have a lot more information to share next week with all of you as well as some action points that you can take.
Have a wonderful holiday season. Please keep these amazing horses in your warmest thoughts and prayers.
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.
Our comments with the BLM/NPS seems to go in one ear and into the trash can. It seems they read it and ignore it! I want to write the best comments that mean the most in swaying the NPS. I have questions. How many acres in the south unit shared with buffalo? Are the buffalo the NPS main interest? What is the terrain like in the area where the horses live? What is the true count of the herd? Did they destroy all the cremello stock? Does Chasing Wild Horses have a catalog of all the horses? We need as much real information in order to write good comments. Please send out more information. Zero horse on our national park land is inexcusable.
Hello and thank you for your comment. The South Unit (where the horses are) is just over 46,000 acres. Yes the bison share the park with the horses, elk, deer, and other wildlife, The park has stated their pride in the bison herd to replenish what was lost in other errors of our human history. The terrain is rugged – hence the name – The Badlands. The horses are currently free to roam throughout the park. There have not been any cremello horses in this herd that I am aware of. There is a list of every horse in the park on our website (https://chwha.org/the-horses-of-theodore-roosevelt-national-park/) We have also posted a ton of information in our blog almost daily (https://chwha.org/blog/) and also have created a page to help save the TRNP horses with as much information as we currently have (https://chwha.org/save-the-trnp-wild-horses/)