AWHC Lawsuit Delays BLM's Wild Horse Elimination and Sterilization Plan

In response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental and wild horse advocacy groups, the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has agreed to postpone its plans to "zero out" (eliminate all wild horses from) the Jakes Wash Herd Management Area (HMA) in Nevada and to replace 200 wild, free-roaming stallions with castrated males and return them to the range. Thesescientifically unsound, controversial, untested, and radical approachesare part of theBLM’s proposed Pancake Complex roundup, which is set to begin on January 12, 2011.

The lawsuit was filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by theAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)(AWHC), a national coalition of conservation, wild horse protection, and public interest organizations,Western Watersheds Project, a leading environmental group, andThe Cloud Foundation, a wild horseadvocacyorganization.

“The proposed actions are precedent-setting and permanent in nature - and we firmly believe the court will find them in violation of the law," said Katherine Meyer, of Meyer Giltzenstein & Crystal, who filed the complaint on behalf of the groups. “The agency's agreement to delay these radical management actions will avoid the need to seek an emergency injunction over the holidays and will allow the court time to review the considerable merits of our lawsuit.”

At issue is theBLM’s decision to capture -- via helicopter stampede -- and remove 800-1000 wild horses from the 855,000-acre Pancake Complex every two to three years over the next six to ten years, with the first capture operation set to take place between January 12 and February 22, 2012. Specifically of concern to the plaintiffs is the agency’s plan to:

• Reduce the Pancake Complex wild horse population, currently estimated at 2,200 wild horses, to just 361 wild, free-roaming horses and replace 200 wild stallions with castrated males over the next 6-10 years.
• Eliminate all wild horses from the 154,000-acre Jakes Wash Herd Management Area (HMA), which lies within the Complex, “zeroing out” the area for wild horse use, while continuing to authorize thousands of sheep and cattle to graze the same public lands there.

Other plaintiffs include wildlife ecologist Craig Downer and photographer Arla Ruggles, who enjoy wild horse viewing in the HMAs and whose professional and aesthetic interests will be harmed if theBLMmoves forward with its plan. A previouslawsuitfiled in July 2011 by Meyer Glitzenstein on behalf of the plaintiffs prompted theBLMto withdraw a similar plan to release hundreds of castrated wild stallions in two HMAs in Wyoming.

The complaint alleges that theBLM’s plan for the Pancake Complex violates the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the National EnvironmentalPolicyAct, and the Administrative Procedures Act. The complaint can be read.

About the Plaintiffs

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign)(AWHC) is a coalition of more than 45 horseadvocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.

Western Watersheds Projectis a non-profit conservation group dedicated to protecting and restoring western watersheds and wildlife through education, publicpolicyinitiatives, and litigation. The group works to influence and improvepublic landsmanagement in 8 western states with a primary focus on the negative impacts of livestock grazing on 250,000,000 acres of westernpublic lands.

The Cloud Foundationis a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Westernpublic landswith a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

News Releases:

• Lawsuit Prompts U.S. Forest Service to Cancel Roundup of Wild Horses in Eastern Nevada
• Federal Court Forces Interior Department to Consider Scientific Evidence Regarding Wild Horse Management
• Judge Rejects Government Attempt to Ignore Expert Declarations on Negative Impacts of Plan to Castrate Wild Nevada Stallions

News:

• Judge criticises BLM’s stance on wild horse evidence
• Lawsuit Challenges BLM Nevada Mustang Gather Plan
• Group sues to stop BLM roundups Staff Reports
• BLM sued over NV mustang castration, roundup plans
• BLM postpones wild horse elimination and castration plans
• Federal agency scales back Nevada mustang roundup
• BLM Postpones Wild Horse Castration in Response to Lawsuit
• BLM Amends Nevada Gather Plan
• Stallion castration plan on hold until court rules
• BLM Nevada Stallion Castration Plans On Hold Until Court Ruling
• Lawsuit, wild horse management options
• BLM Horse Roundup This Week in Central Nevada
• BLM not gelding stallions now in wild horse roundup, but doesn't rule it out