PETITION TARGET: Charles Sims, National Park Service (NPS) Director; Angie Richman, NPS Theodore Roosevelt National Park Superintendent
UPDATE (5/22/2024): For the immediate future, the horses in Roosevelt National Park are safe as the NPS has halted plans to remove the horses, according to news. Lady Freethinker thanks all supporters who signed our petition to encourage the NPS to keep these horses free. — Lady Freethinker Staff
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Up to 200 iconic wild horses in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota may be removed — most by helicopter roundup — or killed under proposed plans from the National Park Service (NPS) program.
Multiple Lady Freethinker investigations of BLM helicopter roundups have witnessed firsthand the dangerous and deafening use of helicopters to push terrified wild horses into corrals. These roundups often result in injuries or deaths and may break up wild horse social groups.
The wild horse management plan for the Theodore Roosevelt National Park is based on an environmental assessment from 1978. Wild horses have since been found to play an important role in maintaining the health of their ecosystem.
Removing wild horses from their wild homes to be placed in corrals and auctioned off puts these sensitive animals at risk. It also costs taxpayers millions of dollars.
State officials and community members have expressed outrage at the proposal to remove the historic animals, according to AP News.
“They’re like cultural artifacts, almost, because they reflect several generations of western North Dakota ranchers and Native people,” researcher Castle McLaughlin told the Daily Mail. McLaughlin added that the horses may be linked to Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull.
It’s time to speak up for these iconic animals who are so significant to American history.
Sign our petition telling the National Park Service to allow the historic wild horses to stay in Theodore Roosevelt National Park where they are safe, free, and loved by their community.
