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NORTH DAKOTA BADLANDS HORSE
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statement from the BOARD
RE: harassment
August 2024
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
Proverbs 14:29
We have kept quiet for much too long. Preferring to “turn the other cheek,” we have ignored hostility, inaccuracies, threats, and accusations from Chasing Horses through social media and other forms, but the repetitive discrediting has gone on too long, we need to stand up for ourselves and the truth should be shared.
First a little history- From 1999 when Henry and I started working with the park’s horse management, we only wanted the horses living in or being removed from Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) to be recognized, appreciated, and handled respectfully and humanely. Still, we realized that park staff are in charge and have the final say in managing their many resources. Numerous times the story has been told of our work with the park staff to gain trust and respect to influence the management of the horses living in the park. Change in
government policy comes slowly, but huge changes took place over the next 15 years. Those changes would not have occurred if we had attacked the park and its staff like others opposed to park policies at that time. It’s only human nature to become defensive and resistant when attacked. We chose not to attack but to get to know the staff and show them our knowledge of and dedication to the horses by respecting them and helping where help
was needed. No, we did not always agree with park policy in the past, but, instead of harassing and reviling, we worked with them to find new, safer, respectful handling practices.
When Dr. Blake McCann came to the park in 2013, he too wanted to find better, safer, less stressful ways of management. He is responsible for all the animals living in the park as well as all the other resources including forage on the 46,158-acre south unit and the 24,070-acre north unit. Since the three largest ungulates reproduce faster than nature can regulate numbers on limited acreage, Dr. McCann worked to find more efficient and ethical
management methods for the bison and horses. (Elk are already being reduced periodically by some being shot and the meat given away.) With help from experienced handlers, Dr. McCann introduced an easier, safer, and less stressful way for bison to be pushed through the handling facility and developed many of the processes for the remote delivery of contraceptives and the low-stress capture of horses. We knew these methods were far superior to the large helicopter roundups and sale barn auctions of the past, so we continued to help. North Dakota Badlands Horse (NDBH) had a National Park Service (NPS)-approved partnership with TRNP for 2 years. It worked very smoothly for all involved and the culled horses found good homes with pre-approved owners. Except for a
percentage of expenses reimbursed to volunteers who put in at least 60 hours, all money earned from sales went to equipment and supplies for the park. Staff and volunteers were learning, and the handling of horses was improving with each capture, vetting, and loading. Our stand regarding birth control, genetic diversity, and other management practices has come from speaking to experts in the field and the numerous published evidence-based manuscripts; we are not being complacent but careful to follow the research and our experiences with highly knowledgeable people. Many caring and compassionate efforts were and are made behind the scenes for horses needing human help.
Still, outside individuals began to complain and threaten the park. Wanting to avoid disgruntled visitors and lawsuits the park bent to these complainers’ wishes, allowing management and daily park duties to be disrupted by the volumes of emails, calls, and form letters, not only to the local park but to major office holders throughout North Dakota, the NPS, and Washington. Though Dr. McCann was in the process of creating a comprehensive, genetically focused plan for the management of the horses, that responsibility was taken out of his hands. Dr. McCann, Dr. Dan Baker of Colorado State University, and I were all vilified on social media because others did not agree with what we were doing. One only needs to search the Chasing Horses Facebook page to verify this. When I explained privately to two individuals why I disagreed with Chasing Horses, I was twice threatened with lawsuits for slander. Behind our backs, offensive emails accusing individual board members of various wrongs were distributed to other nonprofits, advocates, media people, and the string of elected officials Chasing Horses wanted to impress. Our board members and followers have been photographed, videoed, and even bullied with vehicles. We had to block individuals from our personal and nonprofit pages because of harassment and name-calling. Anyone not agreeing with Chasing Horses, including professional people, have been called a liar.
Because of the harassment, NPS decided that the park should not communicate with any of the nonprofits, not even NDBH, which had assisted the park for over ten years. Soon after, the NPS publicized its procedure to develop a new plan for what it called “livestock.” The horses had never been called livestock, but now they were lumped together with the longhorns in the north unit of the park. Was this to dispel the constant harassment?
Whatever caused it, the fight was on between the NPS and anyone who loved having the horses in the park. NDBH board members prepared for scoping responses by researching and providing reasons for the horses to be kept. Guided by the NDBH board of directors, we and our followers wrote to and testified before elected officials in ND encouraging them to pass the resolution asking the park to keep the horses. (The state resolution has no power
over a federal agency but shows a united front in support of the park’s horses.) Letters and emails were also sent to the NPS and NPS staff met with our board. Interviews were given. We took numerous actions to get the word out that the park’s horses were being threatened, yet our efforts have been belittled by Chasing Horses. We were approached many times by Chasing Horses to join them in the fight against the park’s determination to remove the horses. Each time we respectfully considered the requests made and as a board decided on our response. Each time, it was our impression that our help would only be wanted in taking pre-determined actions Chasing Horses
considered necessary. Our opinion was not welcome, but our money was! Try as we did, we were never successful in finding a way to work with Chasing Horses so the four active nonprofits could not work together for a common goal. What a sad situation!
We are thankful for the work every individual (especially Senator John Hoeven) and organization did to convince the NPS to keep a genetically viable herd of horses in the park. We would love to work together with other nonprofits and stakeholders to develop permanent protection for the horses. However, we believe that cooperation and consensus can only be achieved by respectful discussion of the different points of view. Every stakeholder should have a voice in the discussion of horse management, but it must be respectful, or nothing will ever get done. The practice of maligning and threatening those who disagree must end. It’s spiteful and childish and has no place in the effort to achieve such an important goal.
We must also remember that ultimately it is the park staff’s responsibility to make final decisions on what happens with each animal in their care. We cannot expect them to encourage input from all on decisions concerning an individual horse. They are hired to do a job, let’s let them do it.
By Marylu Weber – President of NDBH
Proverbs 14:29
We have kept quiet for much too long. Preferring to “turn the other cheek,” we have ignored hostility, inaccuracies, threats, and accusations from Chasing Horses through social media and other forms, but the repetitive discrediting has gone on too long, we need to stand up for ourselves and the truth should be shared.
First a little history- From 1999 when Henry and I started working with the park’s horse management, we only wanted the horses living in or being removed from Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) to be recognized, appreciated, and handled respectfully and humanely. Still, we realized that park staff are in charge and have the final say in managing their many resources. Numerous times the story has been told of our work with the park staff to gain trust and respect to influence the management of the horses living in the park. Change in
government policy comes slowly, but huge changes took place over the next 15 years. Those changes would not have occurred if we had attacked the park and its staff like others opposed to park policies at that time. It’s only human nature to become defensive and resistant when attacked. We chose not to attack but to get to know the staff and show them our knowledge of and dedication to the horses by respecting them and helping where help
was needed. No, we did not always agree with park policy in the past, but, instead of harassing and reviling, we worked with them to find new, safer, respectful handling practices.
When Dr. Blake McCann came to the park in 2013, he too wanted to find better, safer, less stressful ways of management. He is responsible for all the animals living in the park as well as all the other resources including forage on the 46,158-acre south unit and the 24,070-acre north unit. Since the three largest ungulates reproduce faster than nature can regulate numbers on limited acreage, Dr. McCann worked to find more efficient and ethical
management methods for the bison and horses. (Elk are already being reduced periodically by some being shot and the meat given away.) With help from experienced handlers, Dr. McCann introduced an easier, safer, and less stressful way for bison to be pushed through the handling facility and developed many of the processes for the remote delivery of contraceptives and the low-stress capture of horses. We knew these methods were far superior to the large helicopter roundups and sale barn auctions of the past, so we continued to help. North Dakota Badlands Horse (NDBH) had a National Park Service (NPS)-approved partnership with TRNP for 2 years. It worked very smoothly for all involved and the culled horses found good homes with pre-approved owners. Except for a
percentage of expenses reimbursed to volunteers who put in at least 60 hours, all money earned from sales went to equipment and supplies for the park. Staff and volunteers were learning, and the handling of horses was improving with each capture, vetting, and loading. Our stand regarding birth control, genetic diversity, and other management practices has come from speaking to experts in the field and the numerous published evidence-based manuscripts; we are not being complacent but careful to follow the research and our experiences with highly knowledgeable people. Many caring and compassionate efforts were and are made behind the scenes for horses needing human help.
Still, outside individuals began to complain and threaten the park. Wanting to avoid disgruntled visitors and lawsuits the park bent to these complainers’ wishes, allowing management and daily park duties to be disrupted by the volumes of emails, calls, and form letters, not only to the local park but to major office holders throughout North Dakota, the NPS, and Washington. Though Dr. McCann was in the process of creating a comprehensive, genetically focused plan for the management of the horses, that responsibility was taken out of his hands. Dr. McCann, Dr. Dan Baker of Colorado State University, and I were all vilified on social media because others did not agree with what we were doing. One only needs to search the Chasing Horses Facebook page to verify this. When I explained privately to two individuals why I disagreed with Chasing Horses, I was twice threatened with lawsuits for slander. Behind our backs, offensive emails accusing individual board members of various wrongs were distributed to other nonprofits, advocates, media people, and the string of elected officials Chasing Horses wanted to impress. Our board members and followers have been photographed, videoed, and even bullied with vehicles. We had to block individuals from our personal and nonprofit pages because of harassment and name-calling. Anyone not agreeing with Chasing Horses, including professional people, have been called a liar.
Because of the harassment, NPS decided that the park should not communicate with any of the nonprofits, not even NDBH, which had assisted the park for over ten years. Soon after, the NPS publicized its procedure to develop a new plan for what it called “livestock.” The horses had never been called livestock, but now they were lumped together with the longhorns in the north unit of the park. Was this to dispel the constant harassment?
Whatever caused it, the fight was on between the NPS and anyone who loved having the horses in the park. NDBH board members prepared for scoping responses by researching and providing reasons for the horses to be kept. Guided by the NDBH board of directors, we and our followers wrote to and testified before elected officials in ND encouraging them to pass the resolution asking the park to keep the horses. (The state resolution has no power
over a federal agency but shows a united front in support of the park’s horses.) Letters and emails were also sent to the NPS and NPS staff met with our board. Interviews were given. We took numerous actions to get the word out that the park’s horses were being threatened, yet our efforts have been belittled by Chasing Horses. We were approached many times by Chasing Horses to join them in the fight against the park’s determination to remove the horses. Each time we respectfully considered the requests made and as a board decided on our response. Each time, it was our impression that our help would only be wanted in taking pre-determined actions Chasing Horses
considered necessary. Our opinion was not welcome, but our money was! Try as we did, we were never successful in finding a way to work with Chasing Horses so the four active nonprofits could not work together for a common goal. What a sad situation!
We are thankful for the work every individual (especially Senator John Hoeven) and organization did to convince the NPS to keep a genetically viable herd of horses in the park. We would love to work together with other nonprofits and stakeholders to develop permanent protection for the horses. However, we believe that cooperation and consensus can only be achieved by respectful discussion of the different points of view. Every stakeholder should have a voice in the discussion of horse management, but it must be respectful, or nothing will ever get done. The practice of maligning and threatening those who disagree must end. It’s spiteful and childish and has no place in the effort to achieve such an important goal.
We must also remember that ultimately it is the park staff’s responsibility to make final decisions on what happens with each animal in their care. We cannot expect them to encourage input from all on decisions concerning an individual horse. They are hired to do a job, let’s let them do it.
By Marylu Weber – President of NDBH
Supporting documents
Click any document to view its contents.
Opinion of a Foreigner Who Has Never Talked to NDBH
Chasing Horses August 20, 2019 Letter
ND Century Code on Harassment
Kman Demand for NDBH Documents
Kman false email sent to NPS, political, media about Marylu Weber
Kman Opinion on a Facebook page unrelated to NDBH
Marylu Weber email message sent to one friend
Chasing Horses August 13, 2021
Chasing Horses Posts November 15, 2021
Kman Collection of Posts
Kman Compares NDBH & WIND
Partial Email Chain Thanking Me for My Help Talking to ND Legislature September 2023
Comment #1 by G. Kman on NDBH page
Comment #2 by G. Kman on NDBH page
Text with Picture Showing How Close C. Kman gets to Horses
Photo of C. Kman Getting Close to Horses
Photo of G. Kman Going Over the Park Fence
Chasing Horses Response to Email From NDBH July 2024
Chasing Horses August 20, 2019 Letter
ND Century Code on Harassment
Kman Demand for NDBH Documents
Kman false email sent to NPS, political, media about Marylu Weber
Kman Opinion on a Facebook page unrelated to NDBH
Marylu Weber email message sent to one friend
Chasing Horses August 13, 2021
Chasing Horses Posts November 15, 2021
Kman Collection of Posts
Kman Compares NDBH & WIND
Partial Email Chain Thanking Me for My Help Talking to ND Legislature September 2023
Comment #1 by G. Kman on NDBH page
Comment #2 by G. Kman on NDBH page
Text with Picture Showing How Close C. Kman gets to Horses
Photo of C. Kman Getting Close to Horses
Photo of G. Kman Going Over the Park Fence
Chasing Horses Response to Email From NDBH July 2024
