May 28, 2023
Horses can be found in many corners of the National Park System.
You spot them running wild at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in
North Dakota, splashing in the surf at Cape Lookout National
Seashore in North Carolina and at Assateague Island National
Seashore in Maryland and Virginia, and of course as pack animals
and tireless steeds that carry both rangers and visitors to the
parks.
But wild horses are somewhat of a conundrum in the National Park
System. They’re a conundrum because they technically are not wild,
but rather feral, meaning they descended from domesticated horses.
As such, they technically are not native wildlife, and that has
become an issue.
At Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the National Park Service has
raised the question of whether the horses there, as livestock, not
native wildlife, should be removed from the park. A recent comment
period on that proposal drew more than 7,000 comments, just 45 of
which supported removal of the horses.
Where the Park Service will come down on horses at Theodore
Roosevelt remains to be seen.
Across the country, at Cumberland Island National Seashore along
the coast of Georgia, there also are feral horses, and their plight
has surfaced in the form of a lawsuit that claims that animals not
only are damaging the seashore's environment and two federally
protected species but are not being humanely managed by the
National Park Service and should be removed from the seashore.
We’re going to explore that issue today with Hal Wright, who
brought the lawsuit, Patty Livingston, president of both the
Georgia Equine Rescue League and the Georgia Horse Council, and
Jessica Howell-Edwards, executive director of Wild Cumberland, an
advocacy group for the seashore.