Another Legal Win! Wyoming Judge Mandates BLM to Count Foals in Removal Totals

Another Legal Win for Wild Horses

UPDATE JANUARY 9, 2019:Another legal win for AWHC! Wyoming federal court rules in our favor - issues order tellingBLMthat it cannot exclude foals from overall roundup removal totals as a tactic for removing more horses than legally allowed from the range! Read the decisionhere!

Cheyenne, WY (October 6, 2017) . . .TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)and wildlife photographersCarol WalkerandKimerlee Curylfiled suit today in U.S. District Court in Wyoming to stop the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from illegally rounding up hundreds of wild horses in a helicopter capture operation currently underway in southwestern Wyoming.

Thelawsuit chargestheBLMwith violating three federal laws by rounding up hundreds more horses thanpreviously disclosedbyexcludingfoals and weanlings from its official count of horses removed from the range. It also challenges the agency’s shipment of capturedmustangsto two privately-owned feedlots that are not open to the public for viewing and adoption.

According to attorney William Eubanks ofMeyer Glitzenstein and Eubanks, “BLM’s action of permanently removing hundreds more horses than it determined to be excess animals, and which the agency never disclosed to the public nor analyzed in any fashion under relevant environmental laws, is not only unlawful but completely unconscionable in light of the Tenth Circuit’s strongly worded ruling last year tellingBLMto comply with federal law when removing horses from thesepublic lands. In some ways,BLM’s new approach is even worse for horses than the old approach that the Tenth Circuit invalidated;BLMis trying every technique possible to remove horses from the range in these HMAs except for following the laws Congress entrusted to the agency.”

It’s the third time the plaintiffs have filed suit to challenge theBLM’s illegal actions in this area known as the Wyoming Checkerboard. Last year the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals handed the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) two precedent-setting legal victories related to theBLM’s actions in Wyoming. (More on the Tenth Circuit Decisionshereandhere.)

“TheBLMhas found a new way to wipe out Wyoming’s wild horse herds by pretending that young horses don’t count,” said co-plaintiff Carol Walker, a highly regarded wildlife photographer who is also Director of Field Documentation for theWild Horse Freedom Federation, a wild horse advocacy organization based in Texas. “TheBLM's stunning lack of concern for the welfare of the wild horses under its care and lack of transparency to the public of its treatment of these horses has never been more evident than during this roundup.”

Walker first learned of theBLM’s plan to remove close to 2,000 wild horses instead of the 1,560 previously disclosed as an observer onsite at the roundup, which began on September 26 and is expected to last 4-6 weeks.

“TheBLMjust asked Congress for permission to slaughter America’s mustangs over the opposition of 80% of Americans. Now the agency is rounding up hundreds more horses than authorized and sending them to private feedlots in Idaho and Utah where they will never be seen again,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign). “By filing this lawsuit, we’re again taking a stand against this agency’s blatant lack of transparency and total disregard for the will of the American people, the welfare of our wild horses, the federal laws that protect these national icons on ourpublic lands.”

Background

AWHC has led a years-long legal battle against theBLM’s plan to eradicate wild horses from a two million-acre area of public and private land at the request of the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA). The RSGA owns or leases the private land blocks in the Checkerboard and views wild horses as competition for taxpayer-subsidized livestock grazing onpublic lands. The legal battle has spanned three separate legal actions (RSGA vs. DOI, AWHC vs. DOI (2014), AWHC vs. DOI (2016)).

Less than a year ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a landmark decision that stops the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from wiping out wild horses from over one million acres of public land in the Wyoming Checkerboard.

This roundup comes on the heels of other roundups, including the removal of approximately 100 horses from the range near Bible Springs, Utah last month. In all cases, theBLMis mum on the impacts of this unprecedented roundup activity on the thousands of wild horses who will be captured and removed frompublic lands.

These horses are in grave danger of being killed or sold for slaughter ifCongressgrants theBLM’s 2018 budget request to lift the current prohibition on destroying healthy wild horses and burros or selling them for slaughter. A provision that would allow this practice passed out of the House Appropriations Committee in July and is awaiting action in the Senate.

TheAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Its grassroots mission is endorsed by a coalition of more than 60 horseadvocacy, humane and public interest organizations.

Carol WalkerandKimerlee Curylare renowned wild horse photographers who regularly photograph the wild horses of the Adobe Town, Great Divide Basin, and Salt Wells Creek HMAs.

Meyer, Glitzenstein & Eubanksis the nation’s leading public interest law firm with offices in Washington, DC and Ft. Collins, Colorado.