Wild horses will stay in the park under latest plan

MEDORA, N.D. (KXNET)- New information now on a wild horse roundup happening in western North Dakota.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park workers will not be removing any horses from the park.

Workers at the park say they’ve finished their bison roundup with plans to ship over 100 bison out of the park to new homes.
Next week, workers are expected to start on the horse roundup in the south unit.
But Sen. John Hoeven says after conversations with national park supervisors, they no longer plan to remove mares and foals from the park.
Horse advocates including Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates are pushing for the park to back off from plans to inject several mares in the park with a contraceptive Gonacon, which they argue would create a sterile herd.

“This is our gem in the state and it’s a great place. It’s a beautiful park beyond the horses. And we don’t want people thinking negatively or we don’t want people boycotting the park,” Chris Kman said. “And there’s a growing movement on that on social media. If they boycott the park, the businesses in Medora, mind included, are not going to be happy about that. That’s not what we want.”
“You know, we need to do some follow up work on Gonacon, as you say, that they are going to come in and find out, you know, what they’re doing. But also, you know, we want to impress upon them the need for transparency and to be getting input from the public,” Sen. John Hoeven said.

Park workers say the latest horse round up is to allow them to gather more data and genetic information.
Currently, there are just under 200 horses living in the park.

KX News also reached out to Gov. Doug Burgum’s office. Here’s what staffer Mike Nowatzki shared.

After several discussions with the TRNP acting superintendent over the last week, we were informed yesterday that NPS would not be removing any horses during the upcoming roundup. The NPS also reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining a genetically diverse herd of wild horses in the national park and agreed that comprehensive data collected as part of the roundup will be key to productive and transparent discussions about the horse herd moving forward. Theodore Roosevelt National Park has been home to wild horses since long before the national park was created in 1947, and Gov. Burgum believes the wild horses that roam the park should remain as an enduring symbol of the untamed spirit of the Badlands.

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