“This is a blatant attempt at gaslighting under the guise of transparency. There’s only the lies and deception of those tasked with protecting the wild animals of this park.”
~ Brielle (as commented on TRNP’s Facebook page 10/18/2024)
Hello and Happy Monday.
A very long week is FINALLY over and as promised, I wanted to recap the gravity of what happened last week. We are all now waiting for that CYA (Cover Your Ass) report Theodore Roosevelt National Park has promised us that will no doubt justify their actions last week. Look for something similar to their CYA Facebook page post justifying 2023 Filly Aspen’s death. In case you missed it, you can view the post here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/zUWGv5MPV2R5kckv/
Don’t forget to read Episode 1 that we shared yesterday in this series of blogs: https://chwha.org/2024/10/20/the-view-from-this-side-of-the-fenceepisode-1/
Today, we want to talk about the helicopter roundup itself. We KNOW this entire roundup was completely unnecessary and has already taken the life of one of our beloved horses, 2023 Filly Aspen. If you do not believe that this helicopter roundup was unnecessary, please look at the post made by Wild Lands Wild Horses: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/9CExNVYi8wJEHnQS/. They outlined a TON of reasons why this roundup was NOT necessary. Remember: the BIG reason Theodore Roosevelt National Park gave the public as to WHY this roundup HAD to happen was to collect DNA. Wild Lands Wild Horses made some great points on WHY that was not necessary as well as other less invasive ways that this data could have been collected. They DO know what they are talking about here because Deb Lee Carson worked with Theodore Roosevelt National Park AND Colorado State University (CSU) as a paid research technician for the GonaCon experiment that happened on this herd from 2009-2020. I have no idea how long she was a part of that, but she has openly admitted how proud she was to be a part of this experimentation on our wild horses. She would have utilized many of the tools they discussed in their post over the years as a CSU Tech.
To back up what was said on Wild Lands Wild Horses, Blake McCann – for those of you who are not aware of who Blake is – he is Chief of Resource Management at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The “brains” behind last week’s operations. Blake told us in our meetings with him and Superintendent Finley several times, that Melissa Thompson’s DNA records from her research in 2018 would be made available to the public any time now. TRNP ALREADY has that information.
For comparison – and again, inquire for yourself – I asked my friend Heather from Save our Wild Horses while we were in Wyoming last week, how much DNA the BLM has on the Salt Wells Creek herd we were viewing. She laughed.
So why does Theodore Roosevelt National Park NOT ONLY need MORE DNA on these horses when they already have more DNA on this herd than I believe any other herd in the US, if not the world?
The answer we believe, and we will share as this series continues, is so that they could hand inject EVERY mare with GonCon.
Another good question many of you have asked: WHY did they ONLY bring in 178 of the 198 wild horses? The excuse now is that it was too windy for the helicopter on Tuesday. What about Wednesday? They had planned for this operation to continue through Friday. Our guess is the bulk of who was NOT brought in were bachelor stallions. Why didn’t they NEED their DNA? Because this was NEVER about collecting DNA for the purpose of “ensuring a viable and healthy horse population” – it was about hand injecting the mares with GonaCon. There will be much more on GonaCon later.
For now, let’s get back to the helicopters…
A follower who was watching our videos on our social media pages commented that when you look at any other page that talks about the TRNP horses or what is happening, they are making it sound like a Disney movie is playing out in TRNP. Meaning, they were not sharing what her eyes were SEEING play out in real time between our page and Kuntz Nokota Ranch.
Here is a map of the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
A few days before the roundup, I drove along the East boundary fence where there were several bands of wild horses happily grazing. I drove down to the handling facility to make sure no roundup operations were started, because you know, TRANSPARENCY – and as I turned around to go back up the road and head to work, I noticed a helicopter flying OUTSIDE the park – maybe 5-6 miles away from the backside of the park. This helicopter had NOTHING to do with what happened days later in the park.
For reference, on the map I have written the words HELICOPTER, to show where the helicopter was flying that day. I have also written HORSES where several bands of horses were grazing 5 minutes before I noticed the helicopter. As I made my way up the road, bands that were hidden during my first pass were RUNNING like they were being chased. As I made my way back toward the horses that I DID see during the FIRST pass – they were ALL running too!
WHY?
That SOUND of that helicopter flying AT LEAST 10-15 MILES away OUTSIDE the park was enough to get the older horses who REMEMBER helicopter roundups running.
Keep in mind, the last wild horse helicopter roundup was in 2013 when 103 wild horses were rounded up and sold at the Wishek livestock sale barn. That is when 32 of the TRNP wild horses went to Legacy Mustang Sanctuary. Those horses are missing and still have not been accounted for.
I also want to insert here that there were other people on the East boundary that day who talked to me on the road or came into our store later that day and saw exactly what I shared above.
How can ANYONE tell us that just because horses like Stallion Brutus, who has a known injury, and was NOT brought in by helicopter, that he, with his concerning injury, did NOT run when the helicopter hovered REPEATEDLY over the park for DAYS?
The answer – he damn sure did run! He ran EVERY time he heard this helicopter.
How do I know?
I too have watched him over the years. EVERY SINGLE TIME a helicopter flies over the park, for weed spraying or bison roundups, I have PERSONALLY seen him SPECIFICALLY running.
When I too voiced my concerns to the park about older horses that would be injured when the helicopter went up, EVEN IF they were not specifically targeted, McCann and Finley told me they understood that some horses would automatically run when the helicopters go up and there is nothing they could do about that.
Let’s also talk about some other documentation we have done over the years.
As we said, the last helicopter roundup on this herd was done in 2013. Every year the park sprays for weeds. Every year wildlife in the park run like heck when the helicopters hover over the park, as I stated in the example above with Brutus.
One year, when Flax’s band consisted of him, Mischief, and Kat, we watched as they DID NOT run while other horses were during that year’s weed spraying.
Why?
My guess? They were too young to understand what was happening, and Kat wasn’t even born, when the last wild horse roundup occurred in 2013.
That is my best guess because the following year when Dolly joined the band, when those helicopters went up for weed spraying, SHE had that whole band running!
Let’s talk about “low stress” because we heard that a lot over the last week. Think about it this way – Can we be “a little bit” pregnant? The same is true for stress – a person or animal is either stressed, or they are not.
Stress, by definition:
Stress
/stres/
noun
- 1.pressure or tension exerted on a material object:”the distribution of stress is uniform across the bar”
- 2.a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances:”he’s obviously under a lot of stress”
By definition, stress seems to be something that you either are, or you are not. As humans, some situations for us may have lower stress than others. What about for horses?
Here is an interesting article I found called “The Basics of Equine Behavior” by Rutgers University (again, please do your own research): https://esc.rutgers.edu/fact_sheet/the-basics-of-equine-behavior/#:~:text=The%20horse%2C%20a%20prey%20animal%2C%20depends%20on%20flight,its%20ability%20to%20outrun%20these%20predators%20is%20critical.
From the article:
- The horse, a prey animal, depends on flight as its primary means of survival. Its natural predators are large animals such as cougars, wolves, or bears, so its ability to outrun these predators is critical.
- The horse has a very fast response time. A prey animal must react instantly to a perceived predator to be able to survive.
- Horses can be desensitized from frightening stimuli. They need to learn quickly what is harmful (e.g., lion, cougar, etc.) and what is harmless (e.g., tumbleweeds, birds, a discolored rock, etc.), so they do not spend their whole lives running away.
- Horses forgive, but do not forget. They especially remember bad situations!
- Horses categorize most experiences in one of two ways: a) something not to fear, so ignore or explore it, and b) something to fear, so flee.
Note that no where does it say that these horses have “low” fear. They either fear something – KNOW it is a threat – or they don’t. They are either “stressed” and react, or they know they are safe and don’t. There is no in-between for them.
It doesn’t matter how “nicely” the helicopter was pushing them into the pens, the horses were in fear/flight mode and fully stressed!
People/pages have also said that the helicopter backed off to allow the horses that were running for HOURS to rest, graze or get water. There is NO WAY that in the midst of literally running for their lives, ANY of these horses thought they would take a break from the threat upon them to get a drink of water or eat. They were in survival mode. All they were looking for was safety.
The trauma of being chased by these helicopters last week will have a lasting impact on EVERY HORSE in this herd. They now KNOW what the helicopter sound means and even when that sound is coming from 15 miles away, OUTSIDE the park, they will run and run and run, until they feel safe.
We will never know everything that happened to our beloved wild horses last week. In some cases, the things we do know that they endured is too much.
We also know that we lost a sweet 1 year old filly named Aspen. Your anger and words mean nothing if you don’t put them into action.
Theordore Roosevelt National Park FAILED to be TRANSPARENT with the public with their plans for our wild horses. Theodore Roosevelt National Park FAILED to treat our horses humanely and keep them safe.
The park’s CYA (Cover Your Ass) report is expected this week. We will get to hear what they want us to know, about what they did to our horses last week. THAT IS NOT TRANSPARENCY!
It’s too late for transparency. TRANSPARENCY SHOULD HAVE COME BEFORE ANY ACTION WAS TAKEN ON OUR WILD HORSES!
Now, Theodore Roosevelt National Park MUST be held ACCOUNTIBLE for their actions.
We have 2 Calls to Action for you to speak up for the wild horses of TRNP and demand ACCOUNTIBILITY for their heinous actions.
This one is a petition to DEMAND that these collars come off OUR horses!
Please sign just ONCE and share!
https://secure.everyaction.com/x-5WrjPo20Cb4LGbj5PD-A2
This one is to send an email to elected officials DEMANDING TRNP be held accountable for their heinous actions against our wild horses!
You can send this as many times as you like! https://secure.everyaction.com/brPfquNQ2EqN-6XVh-16Rg2
Please share!
We also hope that you will consider making a tax deductible donation to help us with our critical advocacy work! You can make your tax deductible donation here: https://secure.everyaction.com/cBmDbRA6cUuzERpShcQOCg2
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