Hello and Happy Tuesday to everyone!

I know many of you are all still reeling from the shock of Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s latest attempts to eliminate the wild horses from the boundaries of their park.  If you look back at our blogs and social media posts since April, we kept stating that THIS would happen.  The park would learn from what didn’t work over the last two years and it would just be a matter of time before they were back to try to eliminate this herd.  THIS is why we hired Bice Policy Group to help us with state and federal legislation.  THAT is the only way we can truly save this herd. We have A LOT of work to do, and we do hope you will continue to support our critical advocacy work. You can make a tax-deductible donation by clicking here: https://secure.everyaction.com/FbY2_tNxQU6Ehc9K2RsjZw2

Governor Burgum’s Chief of Staff emailed me late last night and said he would call me today.  Our state has a lot of out-of-control wildfires they have been dealing with, that, understandably, has taken front and center for the Governor and his team.  We will update you as soon as we have information to share.

I wanted to take a few minutes today to talk about GonaCon.  This current action that the park is proposing is the most concerning of their plans to CHWHA. From 2009 – 2020, Theodore Roosevelt National Park experimented on our horses with a new birth control drug called GonaCon.  I know people will say that I am being “dramatic” with the word experiment – but if you look at the Horse Talk we had with Dan Baker (lead researcher from Colorado State University on the TRNP experiment) AND I STRONGLY encourage everyone to watch it – and in recent conversations we had with the park – BOTH refer to this as an experiment. You can watch our Horse Talk with Dan Baker here: https://youtu.be/kdLHvgVmIuw?si=YkJkk9zkaWcdYwFn

First, let’s start by saying that GonaCon is a relatively new drug and there is still a lot that is not known. Lack of transparency on the impacts of this drug make it hard for advocates to trust federal agencies that want to use it.

In 2009, during a roundup of the horses Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the park, working with Colorado State University (CSU) hand-injected 24 mares with GonaCon.  In 2013, they rounded the horses up again, and gave them a “booster” shot of GonaCon.  19 out of those 24 mares STILL have not returned to fertility.  Those results gave way to another round of experimentation on our TRNP wild horses where they tried to replicate those results using remote darting and different boosting intervals.  As Dan Baker stated in our Horse Talk: none of the combination of initial injections with a booster at different intervals WITH remote darting were able to show the efficacy of hand injecting.  Hand injecting gave the best chance at longer term, if not permanent sterility.

Blake McCann argued this point with me in our meetings the last couple of weeks by pointing out that the information on hand injecting did NOT make it into the final peer reviewed paper that was released on GonaCon.  Therefore, that cannot be used as statistical data. 

Dr, Baker said what he said, and he personally has not given me any reason to NOT believe him.  Theodore Roosevelt National Park management on the other hand, is a different story. 

I am not a scientist, and I have reiterated that both here and in meetings with the park.  In all actuality and truthfulness, science has always been one of my LEAST favorite subjects.  Lucky for me, I have made a lot of wonderful friends over the years who ARE scientists and who can speak to our concerns in clear in concise ways that so that we can understand.

Here are a few FACTS on GonaCon:

1. In other wild horse management areas (HMA’s) The BLM (Bureau of Land Management – another agency in the Department of the Interior) ONLY uses GonaCon on mares over the age of 15 who have contributed to the gene pool.  Compare that to Theodore Roosevelt National Park using GonaCon on EVERY mare in the herd 8 months old and up. Dan Baker also expressed concerns over this type of rogue use that did not have any science or data to back it up.
2. Yes, PZP CAN also create sterility issues – but not when it is used responsibly.  The BLM uses PZP because it is reversible.  If they take a mare off PZP this year, she will likely foal next year.  When a mare is taken off GonaCon, it can take 5-6 YEARS for them to return to fertility – IF they EVER do, as we see with those 19 of 24 mares from the original TRNP GonaCon experiment.
3. There are some cases where mares managed by the BLM do NOT respond to PZP.  Their response is not to remove those mares from the range.  Instead, they evaluate if using GonaCon should be considered.

BOTH the BLM and the NPS are under the jurisdiction of The Department of the Interior (DOI).  How crazy is it that there seems to be no standard protocol within the DOI on the use of such a powerful drug ESPECIALLY on the wild horses these agencies are charged with caring for?

We hope that helps you understand the severity of what the park is proposing.  We will be left with a nonreproductive herd.

To be fair, there ARE instances within the TRNP herd where the use of GonaCon CAN be acceptable i.e. mares over the age of 15 who HAVE contributed to the gene pool.

The park has also stated that if it ends up that mares are not able to reproduce, they can introduce BLM or domestic horses to help with the genetics and help them reach the number of horses that they claim they have yet to determine.

First of all, introducing genetics like this will take away what makes our TRNP wild horses unique. 

Second, for those of you excited at the prospect of the park introducing new blood with animals from the BLM, please consider this:  Stallions in BLM holding facilities are all gelded.  The mares are all double dosed with GonaCon (giving an initial injection when they arrive and a booster 30 days later).  While TECHNICALLY, this introduces new genetics (literally new genes) into the park, more than likely, we will STILL be left with a nonreproductive herd.  Horses will continue to die off and then new horses will be brought in.  The park will check off their box on having horses and maintaining a low number, probably around 100 horses.  The TRNP herd as we know it will cease to exist. 

THAT is what we are fighting for.  THAT is also what we are fighting against. 

Thank you for your continued support and be sure to check back for updates from the Governor’s office later today.

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If you have not signed our petition, please make sure we have your name!  We have collected just over 4,000 signatures in the last week!  I have been continually sending these to the Governor’s office and our federal legislators.  We ONLY need you to sign this once.  You can sign the petition here: https://secure.everyaction.com/4dmUjJg8pk2-feWZLe8-pg2

Please take a moment to make sure that our state and federal legislators hear from you!  Yes! You are welcome to do this action as many times as you like! Here is the link to send your email: https://secure.everyaction.com/yd5efKrSlkawCMSXp97IvA2

Letters to the Editor continue to be printed in North Dakota’s newspapers from followers all across the WORLD!  Contact info for our newspapers can be found in this blog: https://chwha.org/2024/09/28/call-to-action-6/

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