Judge Delays Pine Nut Roundup: A Legal Victory for Wild Horses
Judge Hicks has issued a preliminary injunction delaying the Pine Nut roundup, a significant legal victory for wild horses. This decision underscores the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) failure to conduct an updated Environmental Analysis (EA) and highlights the importance of PZP fertility control.
Please take a moment to read Judge Hicks' ruling in the lawsuit against the BLM over the Pine Nut roundup. The judge correctly found that BLM violated the law by failing to do an updated Environmental Analysis of its plan to remove wild horses from the Pine Nut Herd Management Area.
The judge did not, in any way, take a position against PZP. Unfortunately, this legal action is being used by some as a platform to distribute misinformation about and bash PZP fertility control.
It's important to note that Judge Hicks' ruling says nothing about fertility control!
Judge Hicks issued a Preliminary Injunction to delay the roundup while the case is being heard. The likely outcome is that the BLM will simply issue an updated environmental analysis (EA), at which time the agency will include the wealth of up-to-date research that shows the efficacy and safety of the PZP vaccine in wild horses as an alternative to the removal of horses from the range. This is supported by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) review of the Wild Horse and Burro Program. The public should be given an opportunity to comment on the EA at this time.
While we do not support removals of wild horses from the Pine Nut HMA, we do support the BLM Carson City Office's plan to use PZP fertility control on mares that remain in the HMA in order to reduce population growth, thereby reducing - and hopefully eliminating - the need for removals of horses from the range. Of course, we also work towards more humane treatment of horses and burros and towards obtaining a more fair share of the resources on the range for wild horses and burros through the reduction of livestock grazing on our public lands.
The unfortunate aspect of this Pine Nut situation is that due to the BLM's failure to issue an updated EA and the resulting legal action, the opportunity to use fertility control before the next breeding season is fast approaching as foaling season begins in the next few weeks. This means an additional year of foals will be born and more horses will be traumatized by helicopters in the future, torn from their families and removed from their homes on the range.
Read Judge Hicks' ruling here.