Judge Bars Slaughter of Nevada Mare in Tribal Roundup

In a significant legal intervention, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the slaughter of a horse named 'Lady,' owned by Colleen Westlake. The horse was allegedly taken during a tribal roundup in Nevada, sparking legal action and public concern.

A federal judge has granted a northern Nevada woman's request for a court order to protect her horse after she says it was stolen during a tribal roundup and fears it could be headed for the slaughterhouse.

U.S. District Court Judge Miranda Du issued a temporary restraining order in Reno on Thursday forbidding the slaughter of the horse named 'Lady' owned by Colleen Westlake of neighboring Sparks.

Westlake and the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) filed a lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Agriculture, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Tribe, and others on Wednesday seeking to protect Lady and other horses gathered during a roundup on January 4 in the Palomino Valley area north of Reno and south of Pyramid Lake.

Du's order only directly affects Westlake's horse. She said she'll address any others at a hearing on January 28.

The judge said the tribe and employees of a local contractor gathered horses in Palomino Valley on motorcycles, ATVs, and horseback on January 4 and 5. She said Westlake presented evidence she purchased Lady from the Nevada Department of Agriculture last July.

'I just want my horse back,' Westlake said in a declaration attached to the lawsuit that Lady was stolen from her friend's private property.

The Palomino Valley, about 20 miles north of Reno, is home to a large holding facility where the Bureau of Land Management often keeps hundreds of horses gathered during roundups on federal rangelands. But the horses in question here are not federally protected because they don't live within U.S.-designated herd management areas.

In Nevada, free-roaming horses outside those areas are considered feral horses under the state's jurisdiction. But they don't include horses that originate on recognized tribal lands and generally are considered the property of the tribe.

Nevada Agriculture Department officials told Westlake they have inspected all the horses gathered by the tribe and are investigating the incident.

Alan Mandell, vice chairman of the tribe, said the roundup was part of a management plan intended to protect natural resources on its tribal lands.

'We weren't stealing anything, we were just recovering property,' Tribal Councilman John Guerrero told the Reno Gazette-Journal.