Hundreds of wild horses rounded up at national park. They’re ‘stressed,’ critics say
Hundreds of wild horses from a historic herd in a North Dakota national park were gathered for health assessments and other research purposes, officials said.
Wild horse advocates were divided over Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s roundup effort, with some saying the park’s method seemed much gentler than typical roundups conducted by the Bureau of Land Management, which has been criticized for being rough — and sometimes deadly — to the horses.
Others weren’t so sure of the park’s tactics after observers filmed scenes of injured and limping horses and a yearling frantically running alone after she was separated from her band.
“Do these horses look unafraid to you? Do they look like they know why they are being manhandled, probed and who-knows-what?? Sad day once again,” Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates posted Oct. 15 on Instagram.
“They look scared to death and the white one is limping.. I hope it gets looked at and cared for at least,” someone said in the comments.
“Some of the stallions are fighting,” Chris Kman, the group’s founder and president, told the Forum of Dargo-Moorhead. “The horses are stressed.”
Theodore Roosevelt National Park did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for information about the limping horse, who advocates call Dixie, or the yearling, who advocates call Willow, who was separated from her herd. Several people commented on the park’s Facebook posts asking about both horses’ status and condition.
The park rounded up all 198 horses between Oct. 13 and Oct. 16, fitted 15 of them with GPS collars to collect data on their bands’ movements, and collected DNA samples “from each horse that will provide a significant amount of data to inform long term management to create a genetically viable and healthy viewable population at the park,” Theodore Roosevelt National Park Deputy Superintendent Maureen McGee-Ballinger told McClatchy News in an email.
Park officials will use the data to refine the park’s long-term strategy for managing horses there, the statement said.
And while the park initially had plans to rehome some mares that didn’t respond well to past contraception attempts, officials did not remove any horses from the park this year, the statement said. Officials still plan to reduce the herd size in the future to safeguard its ecosystem.
“Although we are not removing horses at this time, the horse herd population will likely be less than it is today in the future to ensure a healthy herd that is manageable based on the park’s natural resources,” the statement said.
The park’s nearly 200 horses were at risk of being removed entirely until the National Park Service reversed course on the plan in April after years of fierce pressure from the public, McClatchy News previously reported.
Critics flooded comments sections on the park’s Facebook posts about the roundup efforts with their concerns. A post revealing new information that officials had inserted microchips into the horses has hundreds of comments accusing the park of abusing the animals.
“For those complaining or mad about this remember they wanted to remove them all,” someone commented. “This keeps that from happening. It’s not what we’d all like but it’s better than the alternative.”
“Yes at least the horses are still here & I’m grateful for that but these last few days have been so hard to watch what is happening & emotions are running high,” someone replied.
This story was originally published October 16, 2024 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Hundreds of wild horses rounded up at national park. They’re ‘stressed,’ critics say."
