North Dakota legislative resolution marks first step toward federal protection for wild horses

MEDORA, N.D. — A resolution passed by the North Dakota Legislature is the first step in seeking federal protection to ensure the future of the wild horse herd at

Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Legislators this week overwhelmingly

passed

Senate Concurrent Resolution 4006,

which urges Congress to pass legislation protecting the herd.

“It’s important because it puts North Dakota on record saying they’re important and should have full protection,” said Chris Kman, president of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates of Dickinson, a leading proponent for keeping a viable herd.

Park officials proposed eliminating the wild horses from the park in a recent environmental review and are injecting the mares with birth control to prevent reproduction in the herd.

The resolution notes “significant concerns regarding the management of the wild horse herd by Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the long-term health and preservation of the herd” and urges Congress to enact legislation “establishing federal protections for the wild horses to ensure the herd’s long-term health and preservation.”

A herd of about 200 wild horses, grouped in separate bands, has roamed the south unit since before Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in 1947. A study found

the ancestry of the herd likely traces back to the open-range ranching era of the 1880s,

when Roosevelt ranched in the Badlands.

Following public outcry,

park officials in April 2024 abandoned an environmental review

— which Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., flatly called a horse-removal process — and agreed to maintain a herd of horses but said they would reduce the size of the herd.

Six months later, in October 2024,

the park conducted a helicopter roundup of the horses.

During the roundup, all mature mares were injected with GonaCon, a birth-control drug the park has used aggressively since 2009.

Most of the mares have received multiple injections of the drug, which Colorado State University researchers found to be highly effective after two doses — and determined that

19 of 24 mares failed to regain fertility after two doses.

As a result of the park’s use of GonaCon, horse advocates fear the park is deliberately creating a non-reproductive herd. Kman said Bruce McCann, the park’s chief of natural resources, told her late last year that the park is using GonaCon with the intent of creating a sterile herd.

The park has not responded to The Forum’s request for comment on the assertion that it is deliberately working to sterilize the herd.

Rangers were out darting mares in the park on Thursday, March 27. Park records show every mare was dosed with GonaCon last year, Kman said.

“GonaCon is not meant to be used every year, so what are they doing?” she said. “Eradicating the herd.”

Now that legislators have sent a clear message to Congress, Kman said she will ask the North Dakota congressional delegation to press the National Park Service to impose a moratorium on any further horse removals and the use of birth-control drugs.

“Federal legislation takes a long time, as you could imagine,” and likely would take several years to pass, if successful, she said.

Hoeven is preparing to take legislative action to protect the horses, spokesperson Alex Finken said.

“Last year, Senator Hoeven secured a commitment from the National Park Service to maintain wild horses at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and he is working to introduce legislation to ensure the NPS maintains a herd of free-roaming horses on a permanent basis,” Finken said.

The herd, which the State Historical Society of North Dakota has said is historically significant, is threatened by the park’s usage of birth control, Kman said.

“The use of GonaCon absolutely has to stop,” she said. Births in the horse herd have dropped sharply, with 10 foals born last year, two of which died. There were more than 40 births in 2017, a number Kman said was too high. A healthy balance must be struck to maintain the herd’s genetic viability, she said.

As a result of the removal of young horses and the aggressive use of birth control, the horse herd is rapidly aging, Kman said. A 24-year-old mare named Tanker recently died, and many other horses are also reaching the end of their lifespan, Kman said.

“There’s a lot of older horses in the park that are going to be dying over the next few years,” adding urgency to the need for federal protection, she said.

There are precedents for federal protection of National Park Service horses, Kman said. The horses at Cape Lookout National Seashore on North Carolina’s Outer Banks and Ozark Scenic Riverways in southern Missouri are protected by federal law, she said.

Patrick Springer first joined The Forum in 1985. He covers a wide range of subjects including health care, energy and population trends. Email address: pspringer@forumcomm.com
Phone: 701-367-5294