Court Blocks BLM from Rounding Up Wild Horses in Wyoming

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has issued a landmark decision that halts the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) plan to remove wild horses from Wyoming's Checkerboard region. This ruling is a significant victory for wild horse conservationists and sets a legal precedent for future management practices.

The court found that the BLM violated two federal laws during a 2014 roundup that removed over 1,263 wild horses from the area. This decision also deems the agency's plan to round up 500 more horses beginning on October 18 illegal.

Plaintiffs, including Return to Freedom, American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign), The Cloud Foundation, and photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl, along with their attorney Bill Eubanks, are celebrating the decision for its implications on wild horse management across the western United States.

“This ruling throws a wrench into the backroom deal between the BLM and livestock grazing interests to eliminate federally protected wild horses from over one million acres of public land in Wyoming,” Eubanks said. “With this landmark decision, the Tenth Circuit has permanently stopped the BLM from treating public lands as private and eliminating wild horses from public lands based on a request from private landowners.”

The ruling states that the BLM violated both the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act and the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) in executing the 2014 removal of wild horses from the Checkerboard.

The appellate court reversed a 2015 lower court ruling that upheld the BLM's actions during the 2014 Checkerboard roundup. This decision concludes a long-standing legal battle over the BLM's plan to eradicate wild horses from a two-million-acre area of public and private land at the request of the Rock Springs Grazing Association, which views wild horses as competition for livestock grazing.

Last week, the plaintiffs filed another lawsuit to prevent the agency from proceeding with the next Checkerboard roundup, set to begin on October 18.

This is the third major legal victory for the groups in just over a month. Earlier this week, the 10th Circuit dismissed a lawsuit by the State of Wyoming to compel the BLM to remove wild horses from non-checkerboard public lands. The court ruled that the BLM is not required to remove wild horses simply because their populations exceed outdated limits.

On September 9, the BLM cancelled plans to conduct surgical sterilization experiments on wild mares in Oregon, citing a lawsuit filed by The Cloud Foundation and AWHC as the reason.

Originally posted by Horse Canada