Hello and Happy Friday! 

I get asked a lot – what exactly we want with regards to the management of the wild horses that call Theodore Roosevelt National Park home.

There also seem to be A LOT of misconceptions on what we believe/think/feel or what we are working for.  While some of these things seemed silly to me, I can see where my failure to address these fallacies may have made them appear to be true.  

So, what does Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates want with regard to the management of the wild horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park?

The #1 answer is: We want the park to do their job!  The jobs that we, the taxpaying public, PAY them to do. 

A lot of people are under the impression that we have no right to question the park. 

Some of those same people believe that if we keep questioning the park, they will just take the horses away because they are tired of being questioned. 

Read that last sentence again.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park falls under the jurisdiction of The National Park Service.  The National Park Service, like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) falls under the jurisdiction of The Department of the Interior. 

The Department of the Interior is an executive branch of our US Federal Government.

Why is all that important? 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is part of our federal government, funded by our tax dollars.  This IS NOT a private company.  This is a federally funded national park and as such, there are rules and regulations that they must follow. 

Those rules and regulations give we, the taxpaying public, the right to ask questions, demand transparency and provide input on management decisions being made on OUR PUBLIC LANDS!

For those of you who think if we keep questioning the park, they will just get rid of the horses: THEY TRIED THAT – AGAIN – and FAILED!

WHY?

Because there are rules in place they have to follow.  They CANNOT simply get rid of the horses, although history shows that they have spent 77 years trying!

This is proven most recently in their March 2022 report retitled: Population genomics provide insight into ancestral relationships and diversity of the feral horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

You will remember we talked about this in our blog earlier this week.  This is the report that shows that they ALREADY had DNA on 98% of this herd in 2022 – they not only admitted this, but they wrote a WHOLE report about it!  Again, you can read the entire document here:

The park talked about the history of rounding up the horses in this report as well.   Notably:

“Every few years thereafter the park conducted roundups to control population size by removing a portion of the herd. Population size was initially selected as 35–60 individuals (National Park Service, 1978). A habitat use and forage analysis later recommended a population maximum of 90 individuals to prevent overgrazing of some forage species (Marlow et al., 1992). More recently, a population objective of 70–140 animals was suggested following a genetic analysis which found low effective population size (Cothran, 1992). Ten roundups were conducted from 1978 to 2013; each time the population was reduced by an average of 52% (TRNP records).”

Let’s read that last part again:
“each time the population was reduced by an average of 52%”

AND, again, a little louder for those in the back:
“each time the population was reduced by an average of 52%”

For those who like to blame myself and my husband for the “sudden” change in rounding up the TRNP wild horses, I just want to say for the record, in 1978, when the park began this aggressive push to remove 52% of the herd at every roundup, I personally was ONLY 10 years old and living in Chicago.  I can also assure you that at that time, I had NO idea that there were wild horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 

The truth is, as this report AND Dr. Castle McLaughlin’s report states, the park has been trying to eliminate the horses from the moment they realized they were fenced into the park. 

PUBLIC OUTCRY AND LOCAL PRESSURE – HAS STOPPED ATTEMPTS AT COMPLETE REMOVAL EVERY SINGLE TIME! 

In fact, Theodore Roosevelt National Park mentions this CLEARLY in their 1978 Environmental Assessment.  You can read the EA here:

THAT is why Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates KNOWS that it is so important that we do not sit here quietly and bear witness to these deliberate attempts to decimate OUR herd of wild horses. 

So, HOW does CHWHA want this herd to be managed?

We don’t have a formal written plan.

Nope…none of us are educated in equine management.

Nope…as mentioned before, we do not own domestic horses – but again, there are very distinct differences between domestic and wild horses, so we never know how/why this is a concern.

BUT

I personally have spent years researching and talking to other wild horse groups and organizations that DO have some pretty impressive wild horse management plans in place. 

I also know how to ask for help when I need it – especially when it comes to areas that I am not completely knowledgeable in. 

The conclusion we have come to is – we are NOT asking Theodore Roosevelt National Park to reinvent the wheel here. 

I believe that you will also see in the coming months, that this is not a “My way or the highway” way of thinking.  In fact, I would LOVE nothing more than to be able to walk away from having to advocate so hard for these horses and go back to a simpler life when my husband and I had time to leisurely spend at least 2 days a week driving through the park and enjoying the wild horses. 

Again, I, personally, DO NOT have a “way”.  What CHWHA is looking for is the BEST way to have these wild horses managed so that their freedom is never threatened in the ways it has been over the last couple years and even the within the last month.

And what does CHWHA feel is the “best” way?

THAT answer, we will leave to some experts we are consulting!

We CAN tell you this:

CHWHA believes that a sound management plan that ACTUALLY does what the park professes: “The park is committed to maintaining a healthy, genetically viable horse population.”

Would:

• NOT include yearly injections with a controversial drug such as GonaCon that is a known sterilant.
• NOT give those controversial injections to mares BEFORE the park properly analyzed the “data” they stated was so necessary to collect to help develop a sound management strategy for the wild horses.

Now, that is also NOT to say that CHWHA thinks that the park should NOT use any birth control at all on a herd that is fenced into the park. 

CHWHA is asking that any birth control – PZP OR GonaCon – be used responsibly and in a way that allows the park to maintain “a healthy, genetically viable horse population.”, as they have continually told us.  We CANNOT have a viable horse herd if the herd is infertile.

I know A LOT of words get thrown around when we talk about the management of this herd.  Let’s look at what the word VIABLE actually means:

Vi·a·ble

/ˈvīəb(ə)l/

adjective

• 1.capable of working successfully; feasible:”the proposed investment was economically viable”
• ▪(of a seed or spore) able to germinate:”most clones can produce thousands of viable seeds”
• ▪(of a plant, animal, or cell) capable of surviving or living successfully, especially under particular environmental conditions:”the largest and most viable population of this endangered vetch”
• ▪(of a fetus or unborn child) able to live after birth:”what if the fetus were viable?”

How can this herd be VIABLE when ALL but 1 mare and 4 2024 fillies have ALL been given GonaCon THIS YEAR? 

How can this herd be VIABLE when 38 of the mares that ALREADY received GonaCon in 2024, JUST got a HAND INJECTION of GonaCon (a SECOND dose) during the roundup October 13-16, 2024?

HOW can this herd be VIABLE when 41 of the mares that were given GonaCon in 2024 ALSO received a GonaCon injection in 2023?

REMEMBER: A BLM horse management employee told us they ONLY use GonaCon on mares OVER the age of 15 – who have contributed to the genetics of the herd.  OR mares who are NOT responsive to PZP.

WHY?

He told us!  ONE dose of GonaCon means that it will be 5-6 YEARS BEFORE a GonaCon treated mare foals – IF she foals.  PZP will allow the mare to return to fertility a year after she is taken off the treatment.

What does 2, 3 or MORE doses do to mares?

The answer, WE DON’T KNOW!  GonaCon is too new and there is not enough REAL data to make wild horse advocates feel like it is safe in any way. There is NO data to prove that GonaCon is NOT especially harmful to females horses as young as 8 months old who have been repeatedly treated while they are still developing. 

We DO know that 19 of the 24 mares that were still alive in 2020 when the GonaCon experiment ended that were HAND INJECTED with GonaCon in 2009 and then HAND INJECTED again in 2013 did NOT return to fertility.  

What about culling the herd?

Is there a need?

CHWHA does NOT feel that there is a current need to cull ANY horses.  Why?  It has been stated by actual people well versed and educated in science and genetics that a MINIMUM of 150-200 horses is needed for genetic diversity.  Wait – small correction – 150-200 REPRODUCTIVE horses is needed for genetic diversity. 

Do we have that?

We have no idea but the FACT that only 8 mares gave birth in 2024 along with the aggressive GonaCon treatments that happened this year, makes the question of how many mares can actually reproduce at this time concerning to CHWHA. 

We also have about 40 horses that are 15-25 years old.  That means in the coming years, this herd will lose AT LEAST 40 horses.

In 2024 alone we are at 0 – ZERO – increase in this herd:

8 foals born

7 Deaths:
Colt Magnum
Stallion Sidekick
Stallion Guardian
Filly Aspen
Filly Birdie
Colt Ace
Filly Piper

PLUS the removal of Stallion Alluvium.

ZERO

And 2024 is NOT over yet. 

This cause for caution by CHWHA on this comes DIRECTLY from Theodore Roosevelt National Park themselves!  From the 1978 EA:

“A word of caution should probably be injected in relation to fertility control.  The use of vasectomies is a non-reversible process.  Therefore, if vasectomies are successful in reducing foal production and if they are performed on all dominant stallions, the recruitment of young animals into the population could be severely limited.  If this were to go on for many years, entire age classes of animals would be completely missing from the population. This is totally unacceptable from a biological standpoint and could result in total collapse of the herd after several years.”

Now, simply replace the word vasectomies with GonaCon – because it seems to us, based on our research AND discussions with experts, that the impacts CAN be the same!

In all truthfulness, it has been proven in other wild horse herds that the RESPONSIBLE use of birth control can eliminate the need for removals. 

We are NOT there yet in TRNP.  There is no responsible administration of birth control. 

CHWHA is THANKFUL for every person who has EVER bought one of the TRNP horses that were auctioned off.  While our fight is always to keep these horses in THEIR home, we are grateful to those of you who were able to give them a great home.  Understand, there are also many horses unaccounted for.  Many who did NOT get a good home outside the park.  Many that have gone to slaughter in the tainted history of Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s years of mismanagement of this herd. 

What we are AGAINST is the park CONTINUING to manage this herd by NUMBERS alone. 

Consider this:

In 1978, a BLM range specialist came to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and said these were some of the healthiest, most genetically viable horses he had seen.  46 years later, all we hear with reference to this herd is about “in-breeding issues”.

THAT  is mis-management. Our friend Steve Martens said it so clearly to me in a recent email I will share at the end of this blog:

“The one main thing McCann and minions’ research seems to effectively demonstrate to the satisfaction of their agency supervisors is that by 60-years or more of scientific mismanagement and persistent assaults on the biological cultural resource (i.e.; the horse herd and subgroups), TRNP managers have proven relatively successful at weakening the herd’s genetic diversity and viability. That’s quite a legacy, but apparently eliminating the horses is fundamental to the job performance evaluation.”

Those are the words of a highly educated man who has lived in North Dakota his entire life and witnessed YEARS of mismanagement of our wild horses by Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 

Right now, it would seem, by everything the park is telling us, that we should ALL be concerned about the genetics of this herd. 

Ok…we are concerned. 

How does:  

• continually giving GonaCon to almost EVERY mare
• giving GonaCon to mares BEFORE you analyze the data you collected
• only allowing the SAME mares to reproduce for the 11-year Colorado State University experiment

HELP the genetics of this herd?

And the park’s response?

We can bring in BLM horses to improve genetics. 

YAY! 

They have done this before and it failed! 

Then I also question – does the BLM have DNA on ALL of the just under 70,000 horses in their holding facilities?

I would be willing to bet that answer is NO.

Why do we want to change what makes our wild horses unique?

Don’t we want the legacies of Red Face, Copper, Mystery, Guardian, Silver, Sidekick, Thunder, and so many others, to live on in OUR herd? 

Those legacies do not live on if we continue to water down those genes that make this herd special. 

Can this herd repair itself?

Again, I am not a scientist, but a friend of mine asked a scientist at Cornell University who said ABSOLUTELY this herd can repair itself.  Those dominate traits that allow these incredible horses to survive and thrive in the badlands of North Dakota, will continue to push through.  That includes the rare Nokota genes that have been preserved thanks to Frank and Leo Kuntz! We really are NOT crazy to think we are witnessing the beginnings of that. 

The herd does NOT repair itself if EVERY young horse aged 4 months – 3 years old continues  to be removed from the park.  Those actions, by the park’s own admission – will eventually cause this herd to collapse. 

Again, RESPONSIBLE management NEEDS to look at herd genetics BEFORE things like culling and birth control are used in such flippant ways that they actually destroy this herd. 

We think that this blog addresses some concerns and misconceptions about what CHWHA would like to see implemented in future management plans for the wild horses at TRNP.  If there are any questions we left out, please do not hesitate to ask.  You can email us at info@chwha.org

My friend Steve Martens emailed me earlier this week.  In my response, I asked him to look at this new paper we discovered authored by the park and released in March of 2024.  Steve’s response to me, after reading this paper, is below for you to read. 

I share this because it shows the CONTINUED levels of deception from a branch of our federal government charged with proper management of our wild horses. 

We are working on A TON of different things at the moment.  We will have some news to share in the next couple of days, so please check back. 

More than anything, – please consider making a donation to help support our critical advocacy work.  We have A LOT to do to get these horses the protection they deserve, and that journey is just getting started!

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

You can also head over to our online silent auction and place a bid on over 100 really great items that were donated to us. The auction ends THIS SUNDAY! You can place your bid(s) here: http://chwha.betterworld.org/auctions/2024-fall-silent-auction

Thank you again for your continued support and have a great day!

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