Federal Court to Hear Lawsuit Against BLM Wild Horse Roundup

February 27, 2015

AWHC Contributor

Advocates Defend Mustangs Against Gov’t and Grazing Association

Laramie, WY (February 27, 2015) – Wild horse advocates will square off against the U.S. government, ranchers, and the State of Wyoming on Monday, when the U.S. District Court of Wyoming hears oral arguments in a high-profile lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its massive “Checkerboard Roundup,” conducted last fall, in which 1,263 wild horses were permanently removed from their homes on the range in southwestern Wyoming.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation), The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, and photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl contend that the BLM violated federal law by proceeding with the roundup in the absence of any environmental analysis and public participation, and by reducing the populations in the Adobe Town, Salt Wells, and Divide Basin Herd Management Areas below established “Appropriate” Management Levels.

WHAT: Oral Arguments in American Wild Horse Conservation, et. al. vs. Department of the Interior
WHEN: Monday, March 1, 2015, at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: University of Wyoming College of Law, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie
PRESIDING: U.S. District Court of Wyoming Chief Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal

The plaintiffs are represented by William Eubanks, partner at the Washington, DC-based public interest law firm of Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal. The State of Wyoming and the Rock Springs Grazing Association have been granted intervenor status in the case.

The wild horse groups contend that the massive roundup was conducted to appease the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA), whose members enjoy the privilege of taxpayer-subsidized livestock grazing on public lands in the area. AWHC and The Cloud Foundation were intervenors in the RSGA litigation that resulted in a highly controversial Consent Decree, in which the government agreed to eradicate wild horses from public lands in the Wyoming Checkerboard.

For more information on the lawsuit, 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.

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 (RTF) 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. Walker is also a board member for the Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

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