We do ask that as we continue this series on GonaCon that you check out the following working links:
You can learn more about GonaCon on our website: https://chwha.org/gonacon/
We had a Horse Talk with Dr. Dan Baker in 2023 – this is an extremely insightful talk: https://youtu.be/kdLHvgVmIuw
In January, Ginger Fedak spoke at our virtual summit and shared scientific data about GonaCon and PZP: https://youtu.be/H0iigWwM9WE
Lastly, there is a video recording from a fertility conference that Dr. Dan Banker spoke at. You can view this in our Resource Library here: https://chwha.org/library/
There are other pages quoting selective portions of hard work and research done by Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates to support their claims that GonaCon is NOT harmful to this herd. CHWHA by contrast invites you to view the videos in their entirety and draw your own educated conclusions.
We also want to note that while other organizations who claim to advocate for this herd have set out with their “neutral stance on TRNP horse management” to twist facts in an appetizing word salad to support the use of GonaCon over the tested safety and reversibility of PZP, please know that in our years of advocating, we have yet to meet another wild horse advocate or organization that supports the use of GonaCon – PERIOD! This includes AWHC, The Cloud Foundation, The Pryor Mountain Mustang Center, Oregon Wild Horse Organization, and just about every other organization out there.
According to records released by the park after the October 2024 helicopter round up, we can see that in 2019 and 2020 EVERY mare in this herd received GonaCon. It should also be noted that before October of 2024, the only horses that were ever hand injected were the original mares in 2009 and again in 2013. In October 2024, the park was planning to hand inject EVERY mare during the planned helicopter roundup. According to records they released, and because of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates advocacy work, only about 1/3 of the mares were hand injected during the October 2024 roundup.
In our Horse Talk with Dr. Baker, he stated that no matter what “boosting” schedule they tried during the second phase of the GonaCon experiment, they could never replicate the efficacy they got through hand injecting. He is still unsure why that is.
We can also see that while the selling point of GonaCon was “A single GonaCon booster dose causes 4 or more years of infertility” the park has been giving GonaCon to every female horse almost yearly, since the experiment ended in 2020.
This is something that Dr. Dan Baker discussed in our Horse Talk with him. He stated that there was no scientific data to support such aggressive use of this drug. He told all of us that we need to “hold their feet to the fire” on this – speaking of the National Park Service and the BLM.
When we talked to darters for the park, they stated that they only dart every other year. Records released by the park state otherwise.
We asked the park – Superintendent Daniels, Blake McCann and Regional Director Bert Frost for clarification on this almost a full month ago. The question we asked requires just a simple yes or no answer: “Did every mare with the exception of 201418 and 202017 along with the 5 new fillies that were born in 2024 all receive injections of GonaCon in 2024?”
The park FINALLY – TODAY (April 29, 2025) answered that question. You can view the answer to this and other questions we asked back in January on their website: https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/nature/feral-horses.htm We will go over the answers – why we asked and any follow up questions we may have in a later blog.
You will also remember that in April of 2024, when the park was forced to abandon their management planning process that called for the removal of the ENTIRE herd of horses, they stated that they went back 47 years to their 1978 management plan. There are a few problems with this:
- Another federal employee that helps manage wild horses on public lands told us to flat out “call bullshit” on that. They CAN go back to this antiquated management plan BUT IF there is new science that they would like to use – like using GonaCon on the herd, that requires a NEW management plan.
- BLM Range Specialist, Milton Frei, who the Department of the Interior sent to evaluate the proposed the 1978 plan, gave options for population control include vasectomies for stallions, and injecting their testies with iodine. Aside from fertility control, other means of population control, as stated in the 1978 management plan include
- Relocating horses in the park
- Disposing of them either by shooting (he noted this was the most socially unacceptable behavior) or auctioning at local livestock auctions
- Helicopter roundups with the use of outriders on horseback
You can read the whole 1978 report here:
In a meeting last fall, before the October 2024 helicopter roundup, I asked Blake McCann personally to show me where in the 1978 management plan it gave the park the right to use fertility control on mares. I handed him a copy of the 1978 report.
Blake pushed the report away stating that “I will not go line by line with you over this management plan.”
I asked again, noting that the report was really pretty small and since this was a tool they were now using to manage the horses, I am simply asking where the plan you have reverted back to allows it.
His response: “And I told you that I will not go line by line with you over this management plan.”
I let him know that while I am not a scientist and fertility control for horses is a relatively new topic for me, I believe PZP was approved for use on horses somewhere around 2012. GonaCon, much later, as we know that the experiment that took place at TRNP helped get it approved for use on equines.
The answer, it seems, is that there is nothing in the 1978 management plan that allows for the use of fertility control, like GonaCon on mares in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
So how are they able to use GonaCon on this herd?
We will discuss that answer in the next blog in this series.
As a reminder, you can read all the blogs in this series here:
Part 1: https://chwha.org/2025/04/23/gonacon-and-the-trnp-herd-part-1/
Part 2: https://chwha.org/2025/04/24/gonacon-and-the-trnp-herd-part-2/
Part 3: https://chwha.org/2025/04/25/gonacon-and-the-trnp-herd-part-3/
Thank you for your support and have a great day!
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