Aggressive birth control of wild horse herd continues with Burgum overseeing national parks department

MEDORA, N.D. — Rangers are not backing away from their extensive use of a birth control drug that has kept all but a few mares in the wild horse herd at Theodore Roosevelt National Park from giving birth.

The park’s aggressive use of GonaCon, an immunocontraceptive drug, at levels far exceeding research parameters has been an ongoing concern among wild horse advocates for several years.

Advocates and state legislators hoped the practice would change once Doug Burgum, former North Dakota governor, became secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service.

But the aggressive use of the drug, given by hand injection after roundups or by high-velocity dart guns, has gone unabated since Burgum was sworn into office in February. As governor, Burgum