Sometime in December or January, when Mother Nature began crippling the state of North Dakota with unimaginable amounts of snow, Stallion Cagney somehow managed to take Mare Dolly and her daughters, Starlet & Summer, from Stallion Flax. The three have remained with Cagney ever since.
While we all know that Mare Dolly is a very stubborn mare, her 2021 Filly Starlet seems to be pretty smitten with their new stallion.
Is it possible that Starlet witnessed the great love we have all witnessed between Flax & his #1 mare Mischief? Could Cagney & Starlet be Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s next great love story?
The honest truth is, we may never know.
Cagney and Starlet, along with the other 190 horses that currently call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home, could be removed from the park at the end of 2023 or in 2024.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park announced their plans in December of 2022 to eliminate the ENTIRE herd of horses from the park. That is their proposed action. While support to keep the horses in the park has grown, the FACT that the park wants to eliminate every last one of the 190 horses from the park has not changed.
The park is currently putting together their environmental assessment (EA). Their Draft EA, we have been told, will be out this summer. There is no reason to believe that the Draft EA will state anything else but support for removing the horses from the park. THAT is STILL their proposed action.
Superintendent Angie Richman has started the narrative in recent news reports that EVEN IF the horses are allowed to stay, the number allowed would be the 35-60, as stated in the 1978 EA.
Which 35-60 of the 190+ horses get to stay? Will Cagney & Starlet get to stay? Auggie? Bluebell? Sidekick? Flax? Daisy? Nicols? Phoenix? Boomer? Amite? What happens to the 130-160 horses that will be sold on a government surplus auction site? How many of those 130-160 horses will end up going to slaughter? Those are REAL questions that weigh heavily on us every single day.
Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates has been leading the fight to save these horses since the park made it’s announcement in December. With your help and support, we have helped draft, introduce, and get passed UNANIMOUSLY North Dakota Senate Concurrent Resolution SCR 4014. We have travelled to Washington DC to meet with and leave information for over 200 members of congress to help educate them on the plight of our TRNP wild horses. We have researched, designed and had a billboard installed on I-94 – visible to traffic heading west – TOWARD Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We have requested an audience with National Park Service Regional Director Herbert Frost. That prompted him to travel to Medora the week of July 10th as he agreed to hold a “listening session” with us and other interested parties. We have answered that by planning a rally on July 12 & 13th! We are also working with American Wild Horse Campaign for ways we can get these horses protected federally, since they are NOT protected under the Wild Horse & Burro Act.
Those are just some of the highlights of the last 6 months.
A week from Thursday, we will be having a follow-up meeting with Congressman Armstrong’s office. THIS is someone who is STILL NOT supporting the horses staying in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We need his support!
Yet, we asked for your help to send postcards to his office ahead of our meeting. To date, we have 25 people who signed up for CHWHA to fill out, pay for postage and send your postcard to his office. That is hardly the flood of postcards we were hoping to send. You can sign up to have us send yours here: https://secure.everyaction.com/1UW4-jaDukaiSMO83dGHVA2
We have asked for help to keep the billboard that is up on I-94. We had to commit to a 12-month contract. The billboard costs $975 per month. Based on our current response, the billboard will be coming down in July MAYBE August. We had a follower offer to pay for one month of the billboard IF we could get everyone else to match their $975 donation. We are still only about halfway there. There are several ways that you can make a donation on our website: https://chwha.org/support-chwha/ With over a half million people following this herd over several different social media pages, keeping this billboard up should not be an issue.
The lack of support for those two items makes me wonder how many of you are sending emails to the congressional staffers we met while we were in Washington DC? We are asking that EVERYONE send emails to those people to help raise awareness throughout congress about the plight of our wild horses. We are trying to get federal protection for these horses, and we will need every member of congress that we can get on our side! The email list is updated daily. Have you sent your emails? https://chwha.org/call-to-action-dc-follow-up/
These horses CANNOT speak up and fight this government bureaucracy themselves. They need each and every one of us to be their voice.
Are you tired of this fight yet? I know I am EXHAUSTED! BUT this fight is far from over!
If we lose this battle, the horses won’t be the only ones to lose. Our children and our grandchildren will be among the biggest losers. They will never know the beauty of seeing wild horses running wild and free within the boundaries of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Once the horses are removed from the park, they will NEVER be brought back in. THAT you can bet on!
I’ll end my plea for your help and support with the words of Theodore Roosevelt:
“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
PLEASE respond to our Calls to Action. PLEASE help support our advocacy work. PLEASE share our posts to help reach as many people as possible. After 6 months, believe it or not, there are STILL a lot of people who have no idea that 190 horses are in danger of losing the only home they have ever known.
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.
