Lawsuits filed as advocates seek to halt wild horse roundup

BLM knows how to kill foals. Here is a photograph of a dead Mustang foal from a previous BLM roundup. Wranglers lassoed and tied him up so he wouldn't get lost, but forgot to go back and get him. They came across him dead several days later. Oh well, they said. Things like this naturally happen in a roundup. Yes, it does if you are a rogue government agency totally out of control.

Two lawsuits have been filed against the Bureau of Land Management alleging mishandling of the Wild Horse and Burro Program, in particular questioning the timing and conduct of the current gather underway in the Elko District of Nevada.

In Defense of Animals has this to say about the lawsuit they filed with reknown ecologist Craig Downer and a conservation group to halt the roundup currently in progress in the Owyhee area, and postpone it for six weeks.

Yesterday, In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization, and ecologist Craig Downer, represented by Advocates For the West, a leading conservation group, filed an Appeal and Petition to Stay with the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) regarding the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Owyhee Complex roundup scheduled to begin today.

The Appeal and Petition for Stay states that the planned roundup – scheduled to begin only nine days after the BLM’s identified “peak foaling season” which ends on June 30th – unnecessarily subjects newly-born foals to life-threatening conditions including the helicopter-created chase, or stampede, of horses for miles over rugged terrain in desert summer temperatures.

The Appeal and Petition to Stay further challenges the agency’s determination that the Owyhee Complex horses are “excess” and therefore must be removed. The scheduled roundup, which indiscriminately rounds up wild horses without any regard to age, condition or health, would include young foals, some of whom may have been born within the last week or so, creates inhumane conditions which would expose the vulnerable youngsters to life-threatening health problems and possibly death.

BLM acknowledges that “summer gathers pose increased risk of heat stress” and “death can result.” In addition, running young foals can cause a multitude of physical health problems including hoof, skeletal and development issues.

The Appeal and Petition for Stay seek to postpone the roundup until at least after August 15.

Source: Press Release

Laura Leigh, of Herd Watch fame, filed a lawsuit today as an individual to halt the roundup for around six weeks:

Leigh studied the newly published Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro handbook and caught BLM in the act of violating their own protocol for the Tuscarora (Owyhee Complex) roundup. The handbook states roundups are prohibited until six weeks after foaling season which ends on June 30th. Therefore the earliest date to start the roundup is August 11th. Laura Leigh, Project Manager of Herd Watch filed a lawsuit today in US District Court in Nevada to stop the roundup.

“I found their error right in the BLM’s management handbook,” explains Leigh adding, “The BLM disregards their own rules when it comes to ‘managing’ wild horse population.”

Leigh and her attorney go on to say:

“Currently, the only way to gain accountability—with an agency apparently left to police itself—is for a member of the public to file suit,” remarks Leigh. Leigh’s efforts are being supported by Grassroots Horse, an organization based in grassroots activism to prevent cruel wild horse roundups.

“If this roundup were being conducted in a safe manner,” says Leigh’s attorney Gordon Cowan of Reno, Nevada “one would make the assumption that the BLM would want the public to witness its entirety. Barring observers and press raises concerns.”

Source: Press Release

Neither press release about the lawsuits was accompanied by copies of the legal documents.