Un·der·hand·ed

/ˌəndərˈhandəd/

adjective

• 1.acting or done in a secret or dishonest way: “an underhanded method of snatching clients from rivals”

Hello and a not so happy Friday to everyone.

As you know, we met with the park about a month ago to discuss how we could work together on the management of the wild horses that call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home.  They said at that time that they wanted to hear our management ideas.  We hoped that we were at the start of a good working relationship.

I sent an email shortly after asking if we could talk about the possibility of some mares being taken off GonaCon.  This is a huge concern for CHWHA and we know many of you also share those concerns.  Superintendent Finley was happy to hear from me and asked if we could meet in person to discuss this. We finally set a time for today.

30 minutes before the meeting, another Facebook group shared a press release that was supposed to be held until 4 pm.  The post was made at 2:30 pm.  My phone immediately blew up with many of you emailing and PMing me asking if I was aware of this.  If you have not seen the full press release, you can view it here:

I thought I was going in to have a good faith conversation about taking mares off GonaCon.  Instead, we were brought in with the hopes of meeting with us before the press release came out so they could explain the news in the press release to me. 

I told the superintendent that I felt this was a very underhanded move on the part of the park. 

With regard to the horses, the press release states:

“Helicopter operations will continue in the park through October 18 to bring the roughly 200 horses into the South Unit corrals. Horses will also be evaluated for general health, genetics, and population demographics (age, sex ratio, etc.). A subset of horses will be fitted with GPS collars so the NPS can better understand their range and use of the park environment. The park intends to work with volunteers that have experience with the park’s management program and the handling of horses.

A small number of mares that did not successfully respond to the contraception and their offspring (up to 15 total horses), will be proposed for donation to Tribes, nonprofits, or auctioned through the General Services Administration, using a process the park has previously used. The adoption process places animals with entities and individuals who agree to provide for their health, well-being, and longevity.”

The park was upset that I seen the press release before the meeting.  They were hoping to discuss it with me first. 

I told them that they took ONE step forward on the trust scale and actions like this take them 10 steps back.  This is NOT helping with restoring public trust. 

It seems to us that they are trying to have a sterile herd of horses.  They disagreed.  I am not sure what you call it when you treat the whole herd with GonaCon and then plan to remove the horses that are not responding to it. 

It is important to me to state that they have NOT finalized their plans, and we will be meeting with them next week to hear more about their plans and who they are targeting for removal.  We have also been invited to participate if we choose. 

Plans from the park include:

1. Rounding up all 201 wild horses.  They plan to take blood samples to check the overall health of the herd. 

I want to note that we are not opposed to this – IF all 201 horses are returned to the park.  If this helps them get data that they need to properly manage the herd.  They will be using helicopters.  There are horses that are in areas of the park that are impossible to get to any other way to round them up.  They are also rounding up bison the week before that, so it is more cost effective for them to round up the horses as well. 

• They will be removing up to 15 horses that are NOT responding to GonaCon.  The reason they give for this is that the same mares are reproducing and that is not helping the genetic diversity.  This CAN means mares like 2006 Mare Dolly, 2006 Mare Dominio, 2009 Mare Punkin, 2010 Mare Papoose, 2013 Mare Democracy.  Basically, you can look at mares that HAVE foaled over the last couple of years and there is a good chance that they will be removed from the park – ALONG with their offspring.  They are looking at the reproductive output for individual horses over the course of 12-14 years on some cases.  We will discuss the list of horses to be removed next week. 

These older mares should NOT suffer because of YEARS of mismanagement of the horses by the park!  They deserve to live out their lives in the only home they have ever known. 

We asked if they are removing 15 horses, can 15 horses be taken off GonaCon.  Nope.  That would defeat the purpose of them trying to get the herd down to a manageable number.  What is that number?  They are not sure yet.

We can understand that it is a problem if the same mare continually reproduces.  We asked if they could try giving them PZP instead. No, we were told.  Even though they have been experimenting with these horses for 15 years with GonaCon, Superintendent Finley said they didn’t want to keep pumping the horses full of chemicals. 

We were told they can’t have an unfettered growth of the horse population. 

There was also talk again about introducing new blood.  Dr. McCann said that the genetics of this herd is as good as it gets so if we want a genetically viable herd of horses, that can’t happen without introducing new blood. 

Again, we asked if they would re-introduce the Nokota’s and were told that they would explore that possibility.

Dr. McCann also spoke this time and in our last meeting that 150-200 horses is not necessary for genetic diversity.  I do not have a scientific background but offered to have a Zoom with him and people like possibly Dr. Ross MacPhee or Eric Molvar who have research that says otherwise.  They said they would be open to that so we will look into this for sure. 

I stated several times that it seemed like we are being TOLD what is happening and getting nothing in return.  This seems to be more of “The park will do what the park wants to do” rhetoric that we have heard for years now. 

At this time, they have NO intention of taking ANY mares off GonaCon and they even talked about the possibility of using IUD’s on mares. 

Superintendent Finley said, “This is better than saying NO horses, right?”

• They will be HAND INJECTING the mares with GonaCon when they have them rounded up.

I have a HUGE problem with this.

If you look at our Horse Talk with Dr. Dan Baker – look specifically at 12:26, 16:31 and 21:50, Dr. Baker talks about how the best effect for sterilization they had was through hand injections. You can view the Horse Talk with Dan Baker here: https://youtu.be/kdLHvgVmIuw?si=7fOifkP8dRWXAFib

CHWHA will NOT support this. 

Dr. McCann stated that Dan was wrong.  Those findings were not shared in the peer reviewed paper. 

Dr. Baker states clearly in this horse talk that more research is needed to see WHY hand injection worked best. 

Dr. McCann also said that the horses are getting harder to dart. 

I know that ALL of my wild horse advocacy friends would be happy to see mares taken off GonaCon and then see that the mares actually return to fertility.  I expressed that this was an opportune chance to allow us to see that.  We also had a lot of discussion about the length of time it may take to return to fertility.  We more than understand that it could take YEARS for that to happen.  The important thing is knowing that it CAN happen. 

It doesn’t matter, they are not open to taking ANY mares off GonaCon right now. 

They will also be putting collars on some of the horses to track their movement and land usage.  These devices can be remotely removed as they are maintained by satellite.  A USGS researcher approached them about doing this research. 

So, to recap:

1. The park will be using helicopters to round up ALL of the horses.
2. Mares will be hand injected with GonaCon.
3. They will be removing up to 15 horses that are NOT responding to GonaCon. 

Yes, they said.

I asked, “What part of any of that did you think ANY true wild horse advocate would be ok with?”

The bottom line is that the park feels that they have too many horses.  Superintendent Finley said that they are trying to get to a place with us where we are starting to trust each other.  I let her know actions like this make trust hard.  She said they want to get to a place where we have enough dialog where we know what they are planning and why – even if we don’t agree, but maybe we can get to a place where we can at least tolerate what they are doing. 

As for what the public gets in return.  Dr. McCann replied:

1. The park is reengaging with the public on the management of the herd.
2. The park is committing to collecting info that will roll into them having a better understanding on how the park might proceed with gene flow to improve genetics
3. The park will have a better understanding of the horse’s use of the landscape.

To say it has been a long day is an understatement.

THIS is why we worked with the city of Medora and Billings County on resolutions this year. 

THIS is why we are working with our state legislators for legislation in the 2025 session.

THIS is why we say that we NEED federal protection for this herd. 

THIS is why we need your help and support now more than ever. 

This will once again fall on us to try to stop this in the next 2 weeks. 

Yes, we have talked to our lawyers.  We will update you on what they find. 

Our lawyers will cost money.  We are already trying to raise $20,000 for state and federal legislation and struggling with that.  Again, no other nonprofit organizations have been willing to work with us on that either by helping with the legwork needed to get this done or the money to help finance the fees associated with legislation.  We do not expect their help with this either. 

We will have some Calls to Action this weekend, so please be sure to check back.  Yes, one of those will include contacting Senator Hoeven to see where he stands on this and if this is something he has agreed to with the National Park Service.

You can make your tax-deductible donation here: https://secure.everyaction.com/cBmDbRA6cUuzERpShcQOCg2

Lastly, please be patient with us.  There is no way that I can answer the number of emails and PMs I am receiving.  Information will be shared here on our blog as we get it.

Thank you for your support and be sure to check back over the weekend. 

---