Lawsuit Aims to Protect Wild Horses from Slaughter

October 25, 2018

A federal lawsuit was recently filed in California by the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) and Animal Legal Defense Fund. The lawsuit aims toblock the US Forest Service from capturing and selling wild horses for slaughter. With few wild horses remaining in America's West, this legal action seeks to protect those that are left.

The suit responds to the Forest Service's plan to round up1,000 horses in the Devil’s Garden Plateau Wild Horse Territoryin California's Modoc National Forest. The plan involves selling these horses for a dollar each, without limitation, if not purchased within 60 days. This could lead to horses beingtransported to Mexico and Canada for slaughter.

Weak restrictions on the sale ofexcess wild horsesexist due topolicychanges under the Trump administration. These changes, influenced by ranchers and groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, removed sales limitations. The Forest Service is now acting on thispolicy.

Under thispolicy,horses over 10 years oldwill be sold if not quickly adopted. Another 700 younger horses are expected to go toBureau of Land Management holding corralsfor adoption. Unadopted young horses may eventually be sold without restriction. Already, about 388 horses have beenherded by helicopter and removedfrom California federal forest lands.

Suzanne Roy, executive director of the American Wild Horse Conservation,commented:“The vast majority of Americans want our iconic wild horses protected on ourpublic lands, not slaughtered. The Forest Service’s decision to treat these national treasures like trash by selling them by the truckload into the slaughter pipeline is unconscionable. Even worse, this is happening in California, a state that has banned the cruel practice of horse slaughter for two decades.”

The lawsuit claims the Forest Service is selling wild horseswithout limitation, violating California's ban and federal requirements for public notice and comment. Ken Sandusky, a Forest Service official, acknowledged the unprecedented nature of these sales, stating, “basically everything we’re doing is new,”according to the suit.

The American Wild Horse Conservation and Animal Legal Defense Fund hope the court willhalt the sales. They have support from governmental authorities, including California Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, who sent a letter to the acting chief of the Forest Service, Vicki Christianson,calling for a halt of the roundup and sale of wild horsesin her state.

Other California legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, have also expressed their desire to stop the horse roundup.

Originally posted by Legal Reader