Wild Horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park to be Auctioned This Fall

MEDORA, N.D. (AP) — Officials at Theodore Roosevelt National Park plan to round up more than 100 horses this fall to thin the herd.

The surplus horses will be sold at auction on Sept. 28 in Wishek. The Forum newspaper reports horse advocates are mounting Facebook campaigns to spread the word in the hopes of placing the horses with caring buyers.

Advocates say that after the last horse roundup in the park, in 2009, eight of the 77 horses sold at auction ended up going to slaughterhouses.

The park maintains a demonstration herd of what it calls feral horses to commemorate the wild horses that roamed the badlands when Theodore Roosevelt ranched in the area during the 1880s. Spokeswoman Eileen Andes says the herd has grown beyond the ideal size for the park.