GonaCon and the TRNP herd – part 2

“Atticus, you must be wrong…”
“How’s that?”
“Well, most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong…”
“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself.”

~ Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

As promised, we are going to continue our discussion on GonaCon and the TRNP herd. I do want to share some information that I will share in every blog post in this series.

We are working on putting together “GonaCon” stories for every mare in the park on our website. You cans view that here: https://chwha.org/gonacon/ A new story is shared daily on our social media pages. There is also a wealth of information about GonaCon on that webpage.

Dr. Baker lead the Colorado State University (CSU) experiment on the TRNP horses that began in 2009. Dr. Baker very candidly shared his thoughts as a scientist and a researcher with us in a Horse Talk. I encourage everyone to listen to our Horse Talk with Dr. Dan Baker from 5/28/2023 https://youtu.be/kdLHvgVmIuw

I also encourage everyone to listen to Ginger Fedak’s presentation from our virtual summit in January. She gave a great presentation on PZP & GonaCon. Ginger was the Senior Campaigner for Wild Horses & Burros with In Defense of Animals. You can view the video here: https://youtu.be/H0iigWwM9WE

One last video I suggest you watch can be found in the Resource Library on our website. It is a video of Dr. Dan Baker speaking at a fertility conference. In this video, he talks in detail about how the experiment at Theodore Roosevelt National Park began, some findings and even some concerns. You will find the video here: https://chwha.org/library/

I also want to say that every time the topic of fertility control comes up, I get inundated with emails and messages from angry advocates that do not believe in fertility control on wild horses. I understand and respect that.

IF we lived in a perfect world, as I mentioned yesterday, I would agree.

I am not here to debate with anyone. I am simply sharing our findings and information. Also please note what I am sharing is relevant to 200 wild horses in a fenced park that encompasses 46,158.57 acres of fenced public land. These specific public lands are managed by the National Park Service (NPS) NOT the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

That being said, we desperately need to find ways to respectfully disagree with one another and find ways to come together on points we can agree on.

As advocates we cannot keep standing our ground saying:

No birth control
No helicopter roundups
No livestock on public lands
No drilling/mining etc. on public lands

While I can say that on a personal level, I am against ALL of that. Still, I feel like we are losing. I KNOW we are losing! It’s not us that’s losing; it is the wild horses and burros.

I also understand that the promise of fertility control was supposed to mean less roundups.

I understand that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service continually lie to the public most often on the side of the ranching industry. On a national level, in 2022, The National Park Service was elevated to the ranks with their sister organizations in their quest to eliminate wild horses from their lands.

“Their lands”

Yes, those are OUR lands. Public lands. Set aside for the enjoyment of the public – paid for by taxpayers like you and me.

The land is not the same as it once was and no matter how much we advocate; it never will be. Most of us will agree that management of our public lands CAN be better. We can’t keep asking for things to be done that represent a time that no longer exists and cannot be brought back.

Our fight is not new. Read about Wild Horse Annie and her work. I was amazed that the same rhetoric is being used today as it was in the 1950’s. Read This Land by Christopher Ketchum. Talk about an eye-opening experience! The war on our public lands has been happening some will argue as far back as when we landed on this chunk of earth and proclaimed “MANIFEST DESTINY” as we “conquered” this land.

We didn’t get to this moment overnight and the issues facing our wild horses and burros will not be resolved overnight.

I feel like a shift in the “fight” is needed.

The real fight is for our public lands – the wild horses and burros are just getting caught in the crossfire of that war.

In some cases, the responsible use of fertility control can help keep our wild horses on public lands.

Please note the word “responsible”. That is where our government agencies fail us. They fail to be responsible. They fail to be transparent – EVEN WHEN President Trump is promising “maximum transparency” from his administration.

In personal meetings with Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Blake McCann has stated that they are “trying to halt the reproduction of this herd.”

IF he was saying – let’s hit the pause button on new babies being born – let the park figure out what we are doing with respect to the future management of these horses without the population growing while we take a moment to “pause” and figure that out – I think we would say ok.

The thing is – out of the other side of his mouth – he is saying that they have no idea if any of the mares in the park will return to fertility even if they are never given another dose of GonaCon.

Now, we are NOT talking about “responsible” use of GonaCon. We are NOT talking about a “pause”. We are talking about eliminating a herd of wild horses from our public lands.

In a conversation with our lawyers last week, our lawyer repeated something a colleague told him years ago: “The only causes that actually go away are the ones you lose.”

As long as there are wild horses on our public lands, our work isn’t done. If our work is done, then we have really lost. That is why, even now, on the brink of federal legislation being passed, Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates’ work will never be done as long as there are wild horses living in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

We have A LOT of work ahead of us! Please consider making a tax deductible donation to help support our critical advocacy work! You can make your tax deductible donation by clicking the logo below: