Federal Judge Upholds Government Roundup of Wyoming Wild Horses

CHEYENNE, Wyoming — A judge has mostly upheld a U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundup of hundreds of wild horses in western Wyoming, which horse advocates claimed violated several laws.

The roundup was deemed proper under a federal wild horse law and a 34-year-old federal court order, in which ranchers voluntarily agreed to allow wild horses to roam the area where the roundup occurred, U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal ruled Tuesday.

"None of the arguments advanced by petitioners and nothing about BLM's horse management program inspire this court to change the approach sanctioned by the court in 1981," Freudenthal wrote.

However, she ordered the Bureau of Land Management to correct procedural deficiencies in planning the roundup.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation) and others attempted but failed to persuade judges to block the BLM from gathering 1,263 horses east and south of Rock Springs in September and October. The horse advocates continued with their lawsuit after the roundup, with oral arguments in the case occurring Monday.

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