Appellate Court Denies Emergency Motion, Allows Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup

Appellate Court Allows Unprecedented Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup on Public Lands at the Request of Private Landowners

CLARIFICATION: The Court of Appeals' cursory, one-sentence ruling did not address any of the BLM's blatant legal violations. While disappointing, the court's ruling is not unexpected, because the standards for obtaining an emergency injunction are extremely high and the cards are generally stacked against us.

American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) and our coalition partners remain committed to pursuing this case with the goal of establishing a precedent that will prevent BLM from running roughshod over public opinion and federal law in the future and with the hope of obtaining some relief for the Wyoming wild horses, including possibly forcing BLM to return to the range some of the horses captured during the roundup.

Denver, CO (September 10, 2014).... Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit denied an emergency motion to block the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) wild horse roundup in the Wyoming Checkerboard. The motion was filed by the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign), The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, and wild horse photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl.

The one-sentence decision by the Tenth Circuit does not address any of BLM’s admitted violations of the Wild Horse Act and clears the way for the roundup of more than 800 wild horses from public and private lands in the Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek, and Great Divide Basin Herd Management Areas. The helicopter capture operation is scheduled to begin this week after being twice delayed by the lawsuit filed by the wild horse preservation groups and advocates on August 1, 2014.

“This ruling allows BLM to blatantly violate multiple federal laws and essentially turns over our public lands to private livestock interests,” said Suzanne Roy, Director of the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign). “It sets a terrible precedent not only for wild horses but also for the responsible management of our public lands by elevating commercial livestock interests over the public interest and federal law.”

“Wild horse families are the unwitting victims of a government agency that is dancing to the tune of private interests on our public lands,” states Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation. “These beautiful, innocent animals are on the brink of losing what they hold most dear – their families and their freedom. And the sad truth is that some will lose their lives.”

“By failing to hold BLM accountable, the court has paved the way for the permanent removal of half of Wyoming’s wild horses and turns on its head the BLM’s legal mandate to protect wild horses,” said Neda DeMayo, President of Return to Freedom. “It is a stinging blow to all citizens concerned with protection of these national icons and the responsible stewardship of our public lands and natural resources.”

“I am saddened and sickened to learn that the interests of private welfare ranchers have been elevated above the value of the lives and freedom of our beautiful wild horses in the Wyoming Red Desert. Some truly precious and essential part of our public lands will be lost forever when they are rounded up and placed in holding pens to live out the rest of their lives,” said Carol Walker of Living Images, renowned wild horse photographer and author.

“When did it become ok for laws to be broken, made malleable by special interest groups? What does this say about our future? The protection of wildlife and our natural resources is becoming a thing of the past. Soon it will be all too late,” said Kimerlee Curyl, noted fine art wild horse photographer.

Over 41,000 American citizens signed an AWHC petition opposing the BLM’s plan to wipe out federally protected wild horses in southern Wyoming.

The push to remove the horses is coming from the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA), whose 50 members view the mustangs as competition for cheap, taxpayer-subsidized livestock grazing on the public lands in the checkerboard. In 2010, the government invited the RSGA ranchers to sue the BLM in order to secure funding for wild horse roundups. Two years later, BLM settled the case by capitulating to rancher demands to eliminate wild horses on a two-million-acre swath of public and private land in southern Wyoming known as the Wyoming Checkerboard.

Even though both the courts have denied the emergency motions seeking to stop the roundup in the Wyoming Checkerboard, the case will proceed to address the merits of the case after the roundup occurs.

For more information on the roundup and the legal action, please click here.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign) 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.

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana. Cloud is the subject of Foundation founder Ginger Kathrens’ groundbreaking PBS/Nature documentaries.

Return to Freedom is a national non-profit dedicated to wild horse preservation through sanctuary, education, and conservation, and also operates the American Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc, CA. It is also AWHC’s founding organization.

Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl are renowned wild horse photographers who regularly photograph the wild horses of the Adobe Town, Great Divide Basin, and Salt Wells Creek HMAs.

The Cloud Foundation (TCF), American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign), Return to Freedom, Carol Walker, and Kimerlee Curyl are being represented by the public interest Washington D.C. law firm of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.

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