Feds Sued Over Plan to Cull Wild Horses in Nevada

WASHINGTON (CN)– Wild horse advocates have taken legal action against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over a controversial plan to remove wild horses from rural Nevada. The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., claims the plan violates a federal law designed to protect these animals.

Lawsuit Details

In a federallawsuitfiled in Washington, D.C., the plaintiff groups argue that the plan, created a decade ago but approved only this year, violates a 40-year-old federal law that empowers the agency to manage wild horse populations.

The removal plan is part of a proposed resource management plan initiated in 2008 and approved in March of this year. It outlines the needs of wild horse populations and addresses concerns about their presence on grazing lands throughout the western United States.

Controversial Removal Plan

According to the complaint, the plan includes the removal of about 1,700 horses from 700,000 acres ofpublic landsknown as the Caliente Herd Area Complex. The plaintiffs, including the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign), Western Watersheds Project, and landowner Laura Cunningham, oppose this removal plan.

The complaint alleges that the agency failed to meet federal requirements to disclose and consider baseline information and environmental impacts from the removal. It also claims that the effects oflivestockgrazing and wild horse use on the environment were not analyzed.

The groups argue that the Bureau of Land Management did not consider reasonable alternatives, such as reducing the amount oflivestockpermitted on these federalpublic lands.

Violation of Federal Law

This oversight, the complaint claims, violates the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which was enacted to protect and support wild horse populations.

She criticized the agency for claiming that available grazing land had been reduced while asserting that the population had grown at a rate necessitating removal.

Seeking Judicial Intervention

The groups are seeking a judicial order to block the bureau from removing the horses.

A representative of the Bureau of Land Management stated that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Originally posted by Courthouse News Service