Animal rights group Friends of Animals has filed a lawsuit over a planned wild horse roundup in Nevada.
The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Reno, the Associated Press reported. It claims that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws by approving the removal of nearly 10,000 mustangs over 10 years in a 4,900-square-mile expanse of federal rangeland near the Nevada-Utah border.
Michael Harris, director of the group’s Wildlife Law Program in Colorado, said the roundups could occur without public notice or comment and without site-specific analysis of each individual gather.
The “roundup decision is unprecedented in size and scope,” the suit states, and would allow BLM to “continually roundup, remove, drug and castrate wild horses for 10 years after the initial roundup.”
(WILD HORSES) — Benjamin Spillman, reporting for the Reno Gazette Journalwrites:
Nearly 3,000 free-range horses in Nevada’s Virginia Range could be under new ownership by the end of May, according to state officials.
The Nevada Department of Agriculture on Tuesday published a request for proposals for people willing to take ownership of the iconic herd.
The Nevada quarter features three wild horses roaming freely. Three is about all that may be left if the BLM and State of Nevada has their way.
Opponents of the proposed giveaway say it “spells disaster” for the herd, which many consider symbolic of Nevada’s western culture.
The proposal is the result of a breakdown between the Nevada Department of Agriculture and the American Wild Horse Campaign, the non-profit organization once had an agreement to manage the horses on behalf of the state.
“The NDA set the stage to destroy the Virginia Range horses by canceling the community-based cooperative agreements for humane management,” Deniz Bolbol, spokesperson for the campaign said in a written statement. “That’s unconscionable and we will not allow it to stand.”
Protestors gathered Wednesday, January 3, 2018 in Carson City to call on Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval to undo a decision by the Department of Agriculture to offer approximately 3,000 free range horses to a private group.
Mustangs of Wyoming, wild and free on the open range, where they belong. Google search result. Unattributed image.
GRAND JUNCTION, CO (Wild Horses & Burros) — The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will meet Oct. 18-19 in Grand Junction, Colorado, to discuss wild horse and burro overpopulation on public lands and the impacts the animals are having on the range.
Today, the BLM estimates that about 73,000 wild horses and burros reside in 10 Western states—a record number since the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed—and almost three times the number the habitat can sustainably support in conjunction with other land uses.
The meeting will be held at the Grand Vista Hotel, 2790 Crossroads Boulevard at Horizon Drive. The hotel’s website address is grandvistahotel.com and its phone number is 970/241-1077.
Prior to the meeting, a field tour will be held on Oct. 17, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., departing from the Grand Vista Hotel lobby in Grand Junction. The field tour will have limited availability for the public on a first-come, first-served advance sign up. Attendees must provide for their own transportation (four-wheel drive recommended). To sign up, contact Dorothea Boothe by e-mail no later than Oct. 6 at dboothe@blm.gov.
The public can address the Advisory Board on Oct. 18 from 3 to 5 p.m. Individuals who want to make a statement should register in person with the BLM prior to 3 p.m., local time, on that same day at the meeting site. Depending on the number of speakers, the Board could limit the length of presentations, set at three minutes for previous meetings.
Speakers should submit a written copy of their statement to the BLM at the addresses below or bring a copy to the meeting. There will be a webcam present during the entire meeting and individual comments may be recorded. Those who would like to comment but are unable to attend may submit a written statement to:
National Wild Horse and Burro Program
WO-261
Attention: Ramona DeLorme
1340 Financial Boulevard
Reno, NV, 89502-7147
Ph: 775/861-6583
Comments may also be e-mailed to the BLM at whbadvisoryboard@blm.gov; please include “Advisory Board Comment” in the e-mail’s subject line.
