Appeals Court Rules Roundup Not Required for Overpopulated Wild Horses

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled against Wyoming officials who sought to require the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to round up wild horses from overpopulated herds. This decision is praised by horse advocates as potentially precedent-setting for managing the animals across the West.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld a ruling that the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act doesn’t mandate the roundup of overpopulated wild horses.

Wild horse advocacy groups, including the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation), hailed the decision. The groups’ attorney, Bill Eubanks, noted the ruling could affect similar federal cases in Utah and Nevada.

“This is, in our view, pretty important,” Eubanks said. “There are two other pending cases in the American West right now that raise exactly the same legal issue.”

The appeals court found that Wyoming’s wild horses aren’t necessarily overpopulated because the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act doesn’t clearly define at what point they would be, Eubanks explained.

Even so, Eubanks mentioned that the Bureau of Land Management has other options besides roundups to protect rangeland health, such as administering fertility-control drugs and reducing cattle grazing.

Wild horse numbers exceed federal population goals in several areas across the West. The animals compete with cattle and other livestock for forage, especially around watering holes where animals of every sort congregate, ranchers say.

Each year, the Bureau of Land Management rounds up thousands of wild horses in an ongoing attempt to control their numbers. The agency adopts many out to the public and sends others to live out their days on sanctuaries.

Wild horse advocates object to roundups as cruel and unnecessary.

Wyoming filed its lawsuit against the Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management in 2014, arguing that too many wild horses can damage rangelands and that federal law requires land managers to curtail their numbers.

The wild horse groups and federal government didn’t dispute Wyoming’s claim that wild horse numbers topped the Bureau of Land Management’s population objectives in seven of the 16 federal wild-horse management areas in the state.

As of March, wild horse numbers had exceeded population objectives in 15 of the 16 areas, Gov. Matt Mead stated. “Wyoming wildlife, including wild horses, are treasured assets. Mismanagement adversely affects all species and the rangelands necessary for their health and survival,” Mead said.

Mead expressed disappointment with the ruling and had asked Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael to review the state’s options.

Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Kristen Lenhardt declined to comment on the ruling, citing agency policy not to discuss litigation. The Bureau of Land Management will continue to manage Wyoming’s wild horses for the health of both the horses and rangelands, she said in a statement.

Originally posted by CBS Denver