Feds defend press limits to Wild Horse roundup

Cross-posted from Courthouse News Service
Original post dated Jan. 10, 2012

Article written by DAVE TARTRE

BLM contracted helicopter pilot gets perilously close to a group of already exhausted wild horses during one of their round ups. Image Justin Sullivan / Getty Images.

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – A photographer appeared before the 9th Circuit on Monday to defend press freedoms against the federal agency that barred her from attending a roundup of wild horses in Nevada.

Laura Leigh sued in September 2010 for a temporary restraining order that would stop the Bureau of Land Management from conducting a wild horse roundup in the Silver King Herd Management Area, which is about 150 miles north of Las Vegas in Lincoln County.

Leigh wanted to get close enough to take pictures of what is also called a horse gather, which the bureau organized under the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, which put the federal government in charge of the herds of feral horses that have roamed the west since they were brought centuries ago by Spanish conquistadors.

As the bureau refused to let Leigh access the roundup, citing public safety concerns, she claimed that the bar would prevent her from closely monitoring the bureau’s methods. She also sought to prevent the use of helicopters to chase down stray horses.

After the roundup occurred, U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks ruled that Leigh failed to show that she had been treated worse than other members of the media or “that the BLM has placed any specific barriers to her access to or observation of these specific gather activities.”

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit seemed reluctant Monday to consider Leigh’s First Amendment arguments. Read full report >>

BLM Issues Report on Wild Horse “Inhumane” lawsuit

WILD HORSE FREEDOM FEDERATION PRESS RELEASE

HOUSTON (WHFF) – (Dec. 7, 2011) Today the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released the long awaited report on their internal investigation into allegations of inhumane treatment in connection with the Triple B wild horse roundup that occurred in Nevada during July and August of this year.

The documentation, and subsequent lawsuit filed by Laura Leigh of Wild Horse Education (WHE) and VP of Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF), resulted in a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by U.S. District Court Judge Howard D. McKibben against pilot conduct. The legal action, filed by attorney Gordon Cowan of Reno, addressed multiple areas of humane concern. Documentation presented to the Court included: lack of food and water, lack of dust control, hotshot use, inappropriate handling during loading and sorting, as well as the helicopter pilot allegedly bumping a wild horse with the skids of his aircraft.

The BLM report admits that wrong doing had occurred, yet does not concede to inappropriate behavior. The report states “External animal welfare experts, as well as BLM employees, split on whether or not horses had been treated inhumanely…”. With all internal investigations conducted by the agency in the past, the “experts” have consisted of either BLM employees or BLM “friendly” personnel. Wild horse advocates have consistently questioned the validity and objectivity of such “in-shop” investigations.

“I find the report encouraging,” states Leigh “however it is of interest that no document filed by the BLM in the course of litigation admits any wrong doing occurred. The recommendations in the document are not in effect on the ground. At the Calico roundup I have witnessed several incidences of concern. There is no excuse for not having a standard in place before the helicopters fly tomorrow morning.”

From the report:

“The review team and outside animal welfare experts did, however, note specific instances of inappropriate, aggressive handling and operational procedures in some of the videos that were reviewed, such as the following incidents:

· Helicopter operating too close to single horses
· Helicopter pursuing small groups or single horses too long
· Excessive and inappropriate use of electric prod, based on the opinions of the animal welfare experts’ review of the videos
· Excessive use of wild rags as whips, especially around the head
· Kicking, slamming of gates, pinning in gates, twisting of tails during horse loading processes.”

The suit is currently awaiting a ruling on Injunctive Relief that asks that roundups be postponed until a policy is in place that outlines handling and a system of consequence for violations. A ruling is expected any day from the Honorable Judge Howard McKibben of Reno’s Federal district Court.

“The idea of sane and sensible management starts with honest conversation,” states R.T. Fitch, author and president of the funding WHFF, “these were areas where productive dialogue was a real possibility yet it was ignored by the BLM until litigation became a necessity. An federal agency that insists on operating in such a manner is not one that gains public trust.”

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Links of Interest:

BLM report:
Pdf file

Video reports:

Helicopter hits horse:

Foal roped:

More Triple B video:

Video from current Calico roundup:

Judge takes BLM to task over mustangs

APNewsBreak: 1 hour ago

Written by SCOTT SONNER

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge in Nevada is taking the U.S. government to task for misconduct by a helicopter contractor during one of the biggest mustang roundups in the West, granting a rare emergency order sought by wild horse protection advocates who argue all of the gathers on public lands are inhumane and illegal.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben denied a request late Tuesday to halt the roundup at the Triple B complex in northeast Nevada near the Utah line. But he did issue a temporary restraining order banning any mistreatment of mustangs like the Wild Horse Freedom Federation caught on camera earlier this month.

Laura Leigh, the vice president of the Texas-based group that filed the lawsuit against Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar, who oversees the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said it was a small but important victory in a larger effort to bring attention to what she says is the BLM’s routine violation of federal laws protecting the horses.

“This is significant because the judge saw what we see every day,” Leigh told The Associated Press.

“This is a recognition in the federal court system that there is something wrong with not only what is going on out there but something wrong with the justification process.”

BLM officials denied the group’s claims that the helicopter pilot on the video actually struck a horse with a helicopter skid on Aug. 11. Continue reading >>

Source: Judge takes BLM to task over mustangs (full article, pdf)