Hello and Happy Sunday!
The October 2024 roundup of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park wild horses is over. The park issued their reports that we have not been able to decipher because we do not know which numbers correlates to which horse. We have received a list of numbers and have added numbers to the horses we know the birth order for. All of the numbers have been added to our list of horses on our website: https://chwha.org/the-horses-of-theodore-roosevelt-national-park/
PLEASE NOTE: Since Theodore Roosevelt National Park refuses to give us the names that match the numbers, this is only our best guess. The park SHOULD release the names with the numbers so that the public reads the report the way they intended us to. CHWHA has asked for this in an email to Superintendent Finley with no response. Our lawyers sent a request for this information (and more) in our FOIA request that was sent in last week (11/8/2024). You can read the FOIA report here:
Before we move on to today’s blog, I have to make a correction to yesterday’s – I forgot 2 collared mares. I did update the blog from yesterday to reflect ALL 15 mares with collars. Yesterday I missed Firefly and Pippi. The mothers of both of these mares, Sundance and Little Gray, were also part of the original mares that were hand injected with GonaCon in 2009 and 2013.
Welcome to part 2 of this series where we look at the reports that Theodore Roosevelt National Park gave us and try to make sense of it all. You can read the reports for yourself here: https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/nature/feral-horses.htm
You can read part 1 in this series from yesterday on our website here: https://chwha.org/2024/11/09/what-it-all-means-part-1/
Today we are going to talk about the injuries:
There were a few injuries to our horses during this process – injuries that WOULD NOT have happened if this senseless roundup never took place!:
2014 Mare Paisley – who we reported an update on our Facebook and Instagram pages WAS in fact injured during the roundup. I went back and looked at the photos I took of her shortly after the roundup and sure enough! The injury was there! The park’s report states:
“25cc penecillin administered for cut on neck, deemed fit for release”
Almost a month later, her neck was still bleeding so badly that we had a swarm of follower’s sending us PM’s, concerned about her. We DID go out and see her last week and it does look like her neck is FINALLY healing.
If you look at these pictures of Paisley, you will see she has the bigger wound on the left side of her face. The other photo shows the right side where she also has a few scratches.
What happened? We will NEVER know and what we are learning is that even if the park gives us an explaination, we can’t believe them!
2015 Stallion Grady – Grady does have an existing injury. The park noted that in their report:
“Existing genital injury examined, no treatment could be provided”
2019 Mare Anitice – she is the one with the collar that Frank was concerned about because she had a cut that was bleeding on her leg but she also had blood smeared all over her body when she came out of the handling facility into the holding pasture that horses were released to once they were processed. The report states:
“Left front leg cut – minor, no treatment, fit for release”
We have not had a good look at Antice since the roundup.
2021 Colt Flyer was also injured during the roundup. We have not seen him since the roundup either. The park’s report states:
“Received sutures and staples on left front shoulder, fit for release with minor lameness”
The last injury, of course, was 2023 Filly Aspen, who DIED as a result of this roundup! The park’s report they shared with the public states:
“Left front leg injury, deemed fit for release with no treatment.”
The park has gone back and updated this report to read:
“Later euthanized on 10/18/24 after condition had worsened.”
CHWHA requested a necropsy be performed on Aspen. We never received a response from the park to our request. Her body has been removed from the park – something we have not seen happen. Usually, the horses are euthanized and left for nature to take its course.
Again, this roundup was COMPLETELY unnecessary and we KNOW this because Theodore Roosevelt National Park TOLD US in the report they released in March of 2024! If you have not read the report, you can read it here:
We leave for Washington, DC early Tuesday morning. We have meetings with Senator John Hoeven’s office and the National Park Service! We also have meetings with a few other congressional offices so we can speak up for wild horse & burro issues as well as conversations for a few specific herds. We have a few Calls to Action we have asked you to help us with. Please take a moment to sign our petitions and send emails to your members of Congress! The more names we have and the more emails they receive BEFORE we see them – the better! We are going to attempt to visit 300 congressional offices while we are in DC!
The Calls to Action are listed below. We also hope that you will consider making a donation to help us offset our trip to Washington, DC. One of those expenses is just under $1,000 for printed materials. We have some awesome packets our friend Heather from Save Our Wild Horses put together that we had printed to pass out to members of Congress.
You can make your tax-deductible donation here: https://secure.everyaction.com/cBmDbRA6cUuzERpShcQOCg2
Thank you for your support and have a great day!
CURRENT CALLS TO ACTION:
First – if you have NOT already signed our petition asking that the collars be removed from the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park – PLEASE SIGN IT NOW!! If you have already signed it, THANK YOU! Now, please ask your friends and family members to sign this as well. You can sign the petition here: https://secure.everyaction.com/x-5WrjPo20Cb4LGbj5PD-A2
This is ONE of MANY topics we will be discussing with Senator Hoeven AND the National Park Service when we are in DC. It goes without saying that we really need strength in numbers here to get these collars of these horses! We have just under 3,300 signatures so far!
Second – We will also be speaking with members of Congress about the Devil’s Garden herd when we are in Washington DC this month. Please take a moment to send an email to your members of Congress to speak up for the Devil’s Garden herd: https://secure.everyaction.com/TUGd9WmX4EqyNwsH08Wn
Third – One of the biggest things we asked during our postcard campaign was that Congress STOP giving the BLM money for the permanent sterilization of our wild horses. Almost 900 of you sent postcards asking this!
We want to follow-up on this and are asking that you do 3 things to help:
- Sign our petition asking them to stop funding the permanent sterilization of our wild horses! We will hand deliver this petition to Congress this month. You can sign the petition here: https://secure.everyaction.com/TDodlCKidU68M1sjsNQWJA2
- Write a Letter to the Editor to YOUR own local newspaper. We have a sample message you can customize below.
- We have taken the sample letter in our LTE action above and also added it to a one-click email that you can send to your members of Congress. You can send the email here: https://secure.everyaction.com/KpGnE7odVkG2_LuFlzncPg2
We are asking that you customize this letter and send it to your local newspaper. Please make sure that you call out your members of Congress – feel free to list multiple names! IF you have a member of Congress that is on the Interior Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee – please call them out in a single Letter to the Editor. You can check the committee members here: US House Appropriations Committee: https://appropriations.house.gov/subcommittees/interior-environment-and-related-agencies-118th-congress US Senate Appropriations Committee: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/subcommittees/interior-environment-and-related-agencies
(Member of Congress) I am asking that you do your part to protect our wild horses! The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has once again requested money in their budget for the permanent sterilization of America’s wild horses and burros. This is in direct conflict with The Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the law that was enacted to protect our wild horses and burros on our public lands. If the BLM continues to receive funding from Congress – WITH OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS – to permanently sterilize our wild horses and burros, this will mean the end of these majestic animals.
The continual funding being granted to the BLM for the permanent sterilization of our wild horses and burros is a total waste of taxpayer dollars and I am asking for your help to stop this act of destruction against these amazing animals.
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