Angie Richman Superintendent Theodore Roosevelt National Park Medora, ND 58645 Office: 701-623-4466
The release states:
“Updated 7/25/24: The horse that was earlier corralled in Theodore Roosevelt National Park due to nuisance behavior has a new home. Park staff worked with the General Services Administration (GSA) to ensure a positive outcome for this animal through adoption. Once word spread about this animal and its behavior, several people reached out to the park offering assistance to help find this animal a good home or offering to adopt it themselves.
The park received a statement of intent from the individual that adopted this horse stating that the animal would be provided veterinarian services to include a wellness check and any needed vaccines; horse gentling; and a home with a barn, corrals, pastureland and fresh food and water. This horse will also eventually be placed with the other horses on the buyer’s property, which is critical for the overall health of the animal as horses are social creatures.
The park opted for this direct negotiated bid process through GSA as the outcome was guaranteed to provide this horse a good home and proper care. The animal has now been transferred to its new owner.”
I have to tell you that this has been hard for both me and my husband. Every single day for over 2 months, we have stopped at the capture pens in the park on our way to work and then again on our way home to check on Alluvium and make sure he was ok. Most of the time we found him in the back corner, near a locked gate, looking longingly out to his home that he could see, but could not get to. It has been heartbreaking.
And, as most of you have said, this never should have happened.
But it did. And THIS is exactly why our work is not done. NOTHING stops the park from doing any actions like this because after 2 years of fighting for these horses to be able to stay IN the park, we still have no proper management plan and these horses do not have any federal protection whatsoever.
We have stated before that Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates is working with Bice Policy Group and our North Dakota State Legislators, and we hope to have legislation introduced in the 2025 session. This is a long process, and we will share updates when we have them.
We also plan to work with Senator Hoeven’s office on federal protection for this herd. We are hopeful the state legislation will help with that.
We will also be attending the Medora City Council meeting and the Billings County Commission meeting again in August. Some of what we are asking of both groups is that they pass a resolution that in part states that we need a Superintendent and Chief of Resource Management that is willing to work with the community of Medora AND the state of North Dakota. Decisions made by this park have impacts on the local community and small businesses.
When I say that my life has actually gotten busier since April 25th, when the park announced the horses would be allowed to stay, I mean it.
Then Alluvium happened.
One thing I am proud to say is that Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, our board and all of you our followers, are consistent. We are NOT going to easily forget the last two years; we are not willing to wait and see what the park is going to do next with some sort of blind trust and we did not simply remove Alluvium from our website that lists the horses like he never existed.
Because he does exist. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE HORSES MATTER.
More importantly – the “nuisance” horse excuse cannot become the new normal or a way for the park to remove the horses anyway.
Was that their plan? If it was, I think public outcry let them know this is not going to work.
Will they try again? Time will tell and if they do, we now have Senator Hoeven on record saying:
“First and foremost, I’ve worked very hard to ensure we’re going to keep horses in the park. And I’ve continued to work on that and we are going to keep horses in the park. And now the discussion has shifted to, you know, how many horses do you need for the right kind of genetic diversity and for the well being of the herd? And what I’ve said is that it needs to be an open, transparent process with public involvement. So, the same would apply to any individual horse, whether it’s Alluvium or any other horse. Or any of these situations that come up. The park service must be open and transparent in terms of what they’re doing and engage the public so that North Dakotans know and have an opportunity to weigh in as to how that herd is managed. So that it’s managed in the best way possible.”
Nice work CHWHA and our followers! We have kept Senator Hoeven engaged. You let him know that this ONE horse mattered. He heard you so loud and clear that he called him out by name. The last two months hopefully helped him, and his office see that the work for the management of these horses is far from over.
We made a lot of noise!
I have talked to two reporters already today and another will be doing a follow up story tomorrow.
Tuesday, while I was enjoying a day “off”, I got an email from a different reporter from the Wall Street Journal who wanted to pitch a story to his editor about Alluvium. That probably will not happen now that Alluvium has been removed from the park. Nonetheless – one thing is clear: THE WORLD IS STILL WATCHING!
Tonight, be mad. Be sad. Mourn the lost freedom of this amazing stallion. Mourn the fact that we don’t get to see him grow up and have his own band. It’s heartbreaking, I know. We have watched this guy for 5 years! He has been mentored by some of the best, like Copper and Cloud. He has sparred with many band stallions and was never afraid to walk alone. All of those skills will now fall to the wayside.
While keeping him in the park was what the majority of us were fighting for, we do need to be grateful that someone adopted him. Who that is and what they choose to share is up to Alluvium’s new owners. We do hope that they know no one is mad or upset with them. On the contrary, we are glad that he is out of that open field and hopefully has a great home. We hope the new owners know that Alluvium has captured the hearts of many people and we all would love it if they shared his new story with us when they feel the time is right.
We DO hear those of you who do not trust the park or agree with the secret sale of Alluvium. Please, DO share those thoughts with Superintendent Richman and her boss Herbert Frost yourself. You can email them at: Angie_Richman@nps.gov and Bert_Frost@nps.gov
They need to hear from you. They seem to think they did the best thing for Alluvium and don’t see anything wrong with their actions. They don’t know what we don’t tell them, even if we think it falls on deaf ears.
Thank you again to all of you who spoke up, sent emails, made calls and signed petitions for Alluvium. Don’t think your efforts were in vain. Quite the contrary, we took a stand and made a very powerful statement. I am proud of each and every one of you that stood up for Alluvium.
Thank you for all you’ve done and continue to do for the horses of TRNP. I will write again to Angie_Richman@nps.gov and Bert_Frost@nps.gov. My opinion is that next stop…their removal from the park. Thanks so much!!
Leave a Reply to Janelle GhiorsoCancel reply