The public is being consulted by the National Park Service to determine whether or not the renowned wild horses in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park should remain.
The public is being consulted by the National Park Service to choose whether or not to keep the renowned wild horses in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
On Monday, a 30-day public comment process was opened by the federal agency. Additionally, it made public a draft environmental assessment of the wild horse herd, which concluded that while their removal will improve local wildlife and vegetation, it would reduce the enjoyment of park visitors who come to observe the horses or cattle.
Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican from North Dakota, declared in a statement on Tuesday that he will keep pleading with NPS to retain the wild horses in the park.
These horses are a very well-liked tourist attraction because they capture the wild essence of the Badlands and serve as a constant reminder of Roosevelt’s ranching and conservation heritage, according to Burgum.
The author said, “Wild horses roamed those lands during Roosevelt’s transformative years in the Badlands, when President Truman signed the bill creating the park in 1947 and when it received official national park status in 1978.”
The idea from the government agency has alarmed proponents who contend that the horses are a cultural artifact and disagree with park authorities who refer to the animals as “livestock.”
A common sight on the picturesque park road that delighted travelers are bands of horses, a representation of the American West.
Removal would require seizing horses, delivering some of them to tribes initially, and then either selling the animals at auction or donating them to other organizations. A different strategy would use methods to stop future reproduction and would permit those horses to live out the remainder of their lives in the park.
After the park was created in 1947, a few bands of wild horses were unintentionally caged inside, according to Castle McLaughlin. McLaughlin conducted historical and anthropological studies on horses in the 1980s while working as a doctoral student for the Park Service in North Dakota.
In the beginning, she added, park officials tried to get rid of the horses by shooting them on sight and employing local cowboys to collect them up and take them away. At one point, the park even sold horses to a nearby zoo so they could be used as food for big cats.
Roosevelt wrote about the existence of wild horses in the Badlands during his time there, according to a park supervisor who uncovered this information about 1970. The horses will continue to be used by park officials as a historical display herd to depict the open-range ranching era.
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Leave the horses alone!