Reno, Nevada (July 14, 2010) — Today at 5 p.m., Judge Larry R. Hicks of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada issued a restraining order against the Department of Interior stating that “defendants are prohibited from carrying out the gathering of any wild horses from within the Owyhee, Rock Creek and Little Humboldt Herd Management Areas in the northwest of Elko County, Nevada, until further order of the court.” A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday July 15 at 2:30 p.m.

On July 13, plaintiff Laura Leigh, a Nevada writer and artist, filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) seeking an injunction to prevent the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from carrying out the roundup of wild horses in the Owyhee Complex. At an initial July 13 hearing, BLM explained that the gather was previously scheduled and had been postponed to, at the earliest, Sunday July 18.

On the basis of this representation the court scheduled a hearing on Ms. Leigh’s motion for July 15. Today, July 14, at 2:30 p.m., the court was informed that the director of the BLM, Bob Abbey, had authorized an emergency gather of horses to begin at 6 a.m. on Thursday July 15, prior to the court’s scheduled hearing.

Judge Hicks wrote: “Based on this change in the BLM’s position, the court finds it necessary to grant an immediate injunction preventing the Tuscarora gathering of wild horses until further order by the court.”

On Saturday, July 10, 2010, the BLM captured 228 horses in the Tuscarora roundup. The majority of these mustangs — including newborn and young, vulnerable foals ­ were stampeded for eight miles over rugged terrain in summer desert conditions.

BLM reports that the majority of horses were in “good condition.” At least 12 mustangs — averaging under 5 years of age — have died so far, including seven who suffered gruesome deaths in the first 24-hours from dehydration-related causes, including colic, brain swelling and “water intoxication,” which happens when dehydrated horses drink too much water. Another horse was shot to death at the trap site after breaking his leg.  Three colts, aged 2 – 4 months, are also among the victims.

The BLM proceeded with the summer roundup despite Ms. Leigh’s lawsuit and a pending legal action filed by Advocates for the West, a public interest law firm, on behalf of In Defense of Animals, both of which warned of danger to the horses of a roundup in the summer heat and so close to foaling season. Ms. Leigh’s lawsuit addresses the removal of the wild horses and the BLM’s violation of her First Amendment rights by prohibiting her from observing and videotaping the roundup operations.

The BLM plans to remove approximately 1200 wild horses, leaving behind just 337 wild horses in the 500,000-acre Owyhee public lands complex.

Read Judge Hicks’ Order here.

For Immediate Release

Contact: Deniz Bolbol, IDA, 650-248-4489

Washington, DC (July 9, 2010) – 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.

The BLM’s Tuscarora Field Office, despite receiving written opposition from thousands of Americans, decided to move forward with the roundup and removal of approximately 1,200 wild horses from what is called the Owyhee Complex – which includes three herd management areas comprised of 482,000 acres north of Elko in northeastern Nevada. The planned roundup only leaves behind only 337 wild horses on the 753-square-mile area. While severely restricting the number of horses on the Owyhee Complex, the BLM allows private ranchers to graze thousands of cattle in this same area through livestock allocations.

“The BLM’s refusal to even postpone roundups knowing the life-threatening nature of conducting them during the hot summer months in desert country is yet another example of this agency’s unwillingness to change,” said Eric Kleiman, research director for In Defense of Animals. “We’ve heard a lot of talk from the BLM about change – yet their actions continue the same ill-conceived, business-as-usual attitude. It is well-documented that conducting roundups in July unnecessarily subjects young foals to life-threatening conditions, yet once again the BLM ignores the science.”

“BLM’s wild horse program is another symptom of the Department of Interior’s fundamental mismanagement of our public lands and resources,” said Todd Tucci, Senior Staff Attorney at Advocates for the West. “There is a clear pattern that Department policy is driven by special interests, not the public good. Owyhee is a case in point of this mismanagement and of the violation of laws and regulations.”

The BLM plans to roundup and remove approximately 6,000 wild horses in the next four months. Currently there are more wild horses (36,000) in government holding facilities than free on the range (33,000).  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has repeatedly stated the wild horse and burro program is not sustainable given that tens of millions of tax dollars are spent annually on the warehousing of wild horses in government facilities – yet the Secretary continues the same broken cycle of roundup-removal and stockpiling of wild horses contributing to the programs problems. In Defense of Animals continues to work with ecologists, wild horse experts and others to push for on-the-range management of the wild horses and burros as a means to maintain healthy herds and healthy range lands.

Wild horses comprise a small fraction of grazing animals on public lands, where they are outnumbered by livestock nearly 50 to 1. The BLM has recently increased cattle grazing allotments in areas where wild horses are being removed. Currently the BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public lands of which cattle grazing is allowed on 160 million acres; wild horses are only allowed on 26.6 million acres this land, which must be shared with cattle. The Obama Administration plans to remove nearly 12,000 wild horses and burros from public lands by October 2010.  There are currently more than 36,000 wild horses warehoused in government holding facilities and only 33,000 wild horses free on the range.

The Appeal and Petition for Stay are available here.

For Immediate Release

Contacts: Todd Tucci, Advocates For the West, 208-342-7024, ext. 202
Eric Kleiman, In Defense of Animals, 717-939-3231

Advocates for the West is one of the leading conservation groups working to protect and restore public lands, water, and wildlife in the American West. The non-profit public interest organization is located in Boise, Idaho.

ELY - The BLM announced today they would defer the wild horse gather scheduled for mid-February at the Eagle Herd Management Area in Lincoln County.  The gather would have removed approximately 500 horses from the range – including 50 that had wandered off the range and were causing traffic hazards on the highway near Pioche, the BLM said.

“The BLM has determined there is not adequate time to safely conduct the proposed Eagle Herd Management Area (HMA) gather prior to the beginning of foaling season, and therefore will defer issuing a decision on the proposed gather until later this year after the foaling season,” said Chris Hanefeld, public affairs specialist with the Ely BLM District Office.

The gather is the subject of a potential lawsuit from In Defense of Animals, a San Francisco-based animal advocacy organization.  IDA filed notice with the Department of Justice stating their intention to sue to prevent another wild horse gather in Nevada.  The announcement was made in a press release issued last week by the IDA.

A similar effort before a recent wild horse gather in Humboldt County was unsuccessful. However, in attempting to block another wild horse gather, the IDA cited deaths and injuries that occurred to wild horses during the recent roundup in Humboldt County at the Calico HMA.

According to the BLM, seven horses died at the Calico HMA gather site and 32 died at the holding facility in Fallon following the gather.

“Most of the deaths were horses that were in extremely poor body condition because of lack of forage on overpopulated rangelands.  These animals either died or were euthanized by the veterinarian on-site at the Fallon facility,” a BLM press release noted

IDA is being represented in court by William Spriggs, of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

Although Spriggs did not succeed in preventing the proposed gather in Humboldt County, there was a victory of sorts when Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled in December the BLM probably did not have the authority under the WHBA (Wild Horse and Burro Act) to hold horses in long-term facilities.  He ruled the BLM does have the authority to gather and euthanize to prevent overpopulation, but Congress has long refused to fund wild horse euthanization.

Additional Information

From the Bureau of Land Management:

BLM defers proposed HMA gather

BLM seeks public comments on Eagle HMA wild horse gather preliminary EA

BLM concludes wild horse gather

From SPJ:

Wild horse gather goes forward – future of long-term holding facilities uncertain

Commissioners suggest different kind of tour for Sheryl Crow

BLM moves forward with wild horse roundup

Read the original article here.