Hello and Happy Wednesday!

“Unaddressed behavior is condoned behavior.”
~ Doug Haig

We spent a lot of time last week talking about the view from our side of the fence for the TRNP roundup of our wild horses that happened October 13-16, 2024. 

While we KNEW this roundup was unnecessary, we now have PROOF from Theodore Roosevelt National Park themselves!  They stated the reason for this roundup was to collect DNA on the horses.  A report they released in March of this year, that was co-authored by Dr. Blake McCann, states that in 2022, they already had DNA on 98% of the horses!  You can read the entire report for yourself here:

We are discussing next steps with our legal team and continuing to move forward with state and federal legislation to help protect these historic wild horses.  There are long- and short-term goals associated with legislation and we promise to share what we have been working on shortly! 

Many of you continue to ask why the organizations associated with the Theodore Roosevelt National Park wild horses can’t all work together for this herd. 

The short answer is, we all have different ideas on what the management of this herd looks like.  I have personally reached out to the individuals and organizations asking for them to work with us many times over the last couple of years.  My offer was refused by every single one of them every single time. 

So we keep doing what we do – and they are all doing whatever they are doing.

I will say, I do agree with all of you.  Why CAN’T we all work together?

Now, I will say, for CHWHA personally, there are too many trust issues for us to ever engage with most of these individuals and groups or share details about any of the critical work we are working on.

BUT

I DO think that there are some common goals that we can ALL work together on – independent of our own personal beliefs on the best management of these wild horses.

One of those is to work to get these collars off our wild horses! 

The report cited above also states that they tracked the movement of the horses for that report, so they ALREADY have the data they claim they need with these tracking collars.  The collars are starting to twist and turn and the park seems to not know for sure if that should be concerning or not, as they are reaching out to the USGS for guidance. 

How can these other groups help?

It’s simple – they can ask their followers to sign the petition we have started asking for our federal legislators to intervene and get these collars off.  CHWHA is working on setting up a meeting with Senator Hoeven’s office to hand deliver this petition.  We also email this petition to his office every week.  The petition can be found here: https://secure.everyaction.com/x-5WrjPo20Cb4LGbj5PD-A2

This does not require us to agree on ANY OTHER POINT!  ONLY this ONE point that every individual and organization has publicly stated they are NOT fans of.  Instead of simply stating their displeasure and complaining about the collars, we ask – what are you DOING about getting them removed? 

Why can’t we work together, FOR THE HORSES – to try to get these collars removed?

Again, we have an open petition with over 2700 signatures.  We do NOT need a separate petition – we need ONE document to send to our federal legislators.

CAN we work together?

I don’t have that answer either, BUT all of us will, as we wait and see who is willing to share the link and ask their followers to help do what is right for our wild horses.

It is one small step that would speak volumes to our followers. 

CHWHA is openly taking that step forward. 

We will see if anyone else is willing to take a step with us.

To those of you who follow multiple TRNP wild horse pages, don’t be afraid to ask them why they can’t share the petition – FOR THE HORSES! 

If we cannot find simple ways to come together – FOR THE HORSES – then truly we have failed our TRNP wild horses. This petition is ONE SIMPLE WAY that we should be able to come together.

Thank you to everyone who has already signed the petition. You ONLY need to sign ONCE. If you already signed, please find a friend or family member to take a moment to speak up for our beloved wild horses!

P.S. Some people have expressed concerns that fighting to remove these collars will mean another roundup.  These collars are supposed to be able to be released remotely, so no additional roundups would be necessary for their removal. 

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