BLM Delays Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup as Preliminary Injunction Motion Filed

Rock Springs, WY(August 11, 2014) - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has agreed to delay the proposed roundup of more than 800 wild horses in Wyoming. This decision allows the court time to rule on a motion for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction filed late Friday by the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation), The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, and wild horse photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl. The plaintiffs have requested a decision by August 29th.

The motion seeks to halt the roundup in the Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek, and Divide BasinHerd Management Areas(HMAs), which had beenscheduled to begin on approximately August 20. In response, theBLMhas agreed to postpone the roundup until at least September 1, to give the court time to rule on the motion.

The plaintiffs maintain that they will suffer irreparable harm if the roundup takes place and are asking the judge to enjoin theBLMfrom proceeding to remove the horses until after the merits of the case are heard.

The motion is the latest in the ongoing legal battle about the future of wild horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard, a more than 2 million acre swath of public and private land where more than half of the state’s remaining wild horse herds reside. In 2013, theBLMentered into a consent decree with the Rock Springs Grazing Association agreeing to remove all the wild horses from RSGA’s private lands on the Checkerboard and to consider, through the appropriate public process, zeroing out the wild horse populations in this area. These actions will essentially turn thepublic landsover to ranchers who graze livestock on these lands at taxpayer-subsidized rates.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation), The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, Carol Walker, and Kimerlee Curyl are being represented by the public interest Washington D.C. law firm ofMeyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.

More information:

• News Release:Lawsuit Filed to Halt BLM’s Scheduled Wild Horse Roundup on the Wyoming Checkerboard
• Links to Legal Documents
• Information on the Consent Decree in RSGA vs. Dept. of Interior Case