40,000 Americans Oppose Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup: Petition Delivered to BLM

Citizen Board Convenes in Remote Location as Federal Court Considers Injunction Motion to Stop Roundup & Removal of 800+ Wild Horses from Wyoming Public Lands

Riverton, WY (August 25, 2014)…. Today, at a meeting of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) will deliver the signatures of more than 40,000 American citizens who oppose a pending roundup of over 800 wild horses from the Adobe Town, Salt Wells, and Divide Basin Herd Management Areas in southwestern Wyoming. The strong public stand against the roundup comes as the U.S. District Court in Wyoming considers a motion for Temporary Injunction filed by AWHC and others to block the roundup, which had been scheduled to begin on August 20.

“I have come today to deliver the signatures of more than 40,000 Americans on a petition protesting the Bureau of Land Management’s Wyoming wild horse wipeout,” said AWHC director Suzanne Roy, who attended the meeting in Riverton. “I’m here to deliver a strong message that the BLM’s days of catering to a small group of ranchers at the expense of the public and our wild horses and burros are coming to an end.”

According to AWHC, ranchers view wild horses as competition for cheap, tax-subsidized grazing on public land. But polls show that the overwhelming majority of Americans support protecting wild horses and burros on public lands. By contrast, just 29 percent of Americans want our public lands used for livestock grazing.

According to the AWHC, the push for the roundup comes from the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA), whose members graze cattle and sheep on BLM lands at below-market rates subsidized by American taxpayers. The RSGA owns or leases less than a third of land in the Wyoming Checkerboard, a more than two million acre swath of public and private land that includes parts of the three HMAs. The RSGA wants the wild horses eliminated, and the BLM is allowing the trade association to dictate how public lands are managed in this area where half of the state’s remaining wild horses reside.

AWHC, The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, and two wild horse photographers, Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl, have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the BLM from conducting the roundup in Adobe Town, Salt Wells, and Divide Basin HMAs. The helicopter capture operation was scheduled to begin on August 20 but has been postponed until at least September 1 due to the lawsuit. For more information on the legal action, please click here.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) is a coalition of more than 50 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. AWHC is a campaign founded and sponsored by Return to Freedom.