US Government Halts Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup Amid Legal Dispute

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) —The U.S. government has agreed to halt a Wyoming wild horse roundup amid a legal dispute over whether it should count foals toward the roundup quota. This decision highlights the ongoing tensions between horse advocates and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and roundup opponents agreed in a court filing Tuesday the roundup would stop at 1,560 horses of all ages, a number theBLMwas set to reach Wednesday. Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal in Cheyenne was set to rule within days whether to allow the roundup to resume while a lawsuit filed by the opponents moves ahead.

The roundup began Sept. 23 and originally was expected to take four to six weeks. The Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) and two photographers sued Friday, claiming theBLMwas deviating from past practice by not counting captured foals toward the roundup's 1,560-horse limit.

The counting technique put theBLMon a track to exceed the limit set through environmental analysis by more than 300 horses, the group and photographers alleged.

The issue came to light not through theBLM's public decision-making process but only when government officials told horse advocates at the roundup site how they were counting the horses, the lawsuit claimed.

Not counting foals deviates from pastBLMpractice, said William Eubanks, an attorney for the wild horse advocates.

A spokeswoman for theBLM's Wyoming State Office, Kristen Lenhardt, declined comment citing agency policy not to comment on pendinglitigation.

TheBLMuses helicopters and wranglers on horseback to round up wild horses and keep them from overpopulating rangelands. Some rounded-up horses are adopted by the public. Others go to sanctuaries.

The lawsuit is the latest of many over the years seeking to affect theBLM's wild horse policies under the Wild Free-Ranging Horses and Burros Act, a 1971 law requiring the government to maintain populations of wild horses and burros on the West's open ranges.

Horse advocates urge a conservative approach to roundups but ranchers for decades have urged theBLMto do more to keep horse numbers down. The horses compete with cattle for forage and water, especially in the arid high desert of southwestern Wyoming where the roundup was taking place.

Originally posted by SF Gate