Saved! Wild Horses To Stay at North Dakota National Park as Roundup Plans Cancelled
Controversial plans to roundup and remove the herd of 200 wild horses have been dropped, and wildlife services will now help to maintain the animals inside the park instead.
Controversial plans to roundup and remove a herd of nearly 200 wild horses from a National Park in North Dakota have been dropped.
Senator John Hoeven announced last week that he secured a commitment from the National Park Service (NPS) to maintain the wild horses at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The Service had previously proposed to remove the horses from the national park, which caused controversy among conservationists and supporters of wild horses. The options varied from reducing the approximately 200-strong herd to only 35-60 horses, or accelerating the reduction of the herd to zero wild horses through a phased-in approach.
However, public and political pushback has resulted in the roundup plans being dropped. The horses at the 70,000 acre park will instead now be maintained by park officials.
Senator Hoeven said that the NPS had made the “right call” by peddling back on its plans to roundup the herd, and cited the “broad public support” for maintaining the wild horses.
Supporters say the iconic mustangs are a symbol of American freedom and are an integral part of US heritage, and also have ecological and economical value for parks too.
“Wild horses are a sight to behold and are also a key draw for thousands of visitors who drive millions in economic activity to gateway communities in the rural reaches of the state”, says Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action.
Instead of physically removing horses, potential options to maintain a healthy herd could now include more humane solutions such as the application of fertility control. Fertility control is already widely used by NPS, the Bureau of Land Management, and other land and wildlife management agencies.
Some animal protection groups mentioned that there was further work to be done at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park however. Advocacy group In Defense of Animals welcomed the news, but urged the park service to reclassify the wild horses from their “incorrect designation” as ‘livestock’ and change it back to the original “correct” classification of ‘wildlife’.
This reclassification would help give more protections to the horses, and reflect the herd’s “remarkable” DNA, which contains no Spanish genetic markers. In Defense of Animals explains that this means the herd is not descended from Spanish conquistadors’ horses who landed in North America, and therefore should be considered native.
America’s wild horses need our help. The Bureau of Land Management’s (B.L.M.) cruel and unnecessary annual wild horse roundups for 2024 are now underway and as always horses are dying as the result of this misguided program. Add your name to Species Unite’s petition to urge the Secretary of the Interior to stop the B.L.M.’s round-ups of thousands of wild horses. Sign the petition here.
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