Lawsuit Challenges BLM's Plan for Mass Wild Horse Roundup in Eastern Nevada

Reno, NV (Feb. 6, 2018) — The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) and photographer Kimerlee Curyl have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Nevada. The lawsuit challenges a ten-year plan by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to round up and remove nearly 10,000 federally-protected wild horses from the Antelope and Triple B Herd Management Area (HMA) complexes in southeastern Nevada. The plan also includes managing the remaining wild horses by castrating stallions and using an unproven birth control vaccine on mares.

AWHC and Curyl argue that due to the scope and scientific controversy surrounding these management decisions, BLM is required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before proceeding. This is particularly important as gelding and the fertility drug GonaCon may drastically impair the wild horses’ natural behaviors and destroy the social organization of the remaining herds.

The BLM plans to reduce the breeding population of wild horses in both complexes to near extinction levels—227 in Antelope and 272 in Triple B—by gelding 50% of the returned stallions, skewing the sex ratio to 60% male/40% female, and treating all returned mares with fertility control, either PZP or GonaCon. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that GonaCon requires further research before implementation on wild horse herds.

“This is the quintessential agency action that cries out for an Environmental Impact Statement,” said attorney Katherine Meyer of Meyer, Glitzenstein and Eubanks, which filed the suit on behalf of AWHC and Curyl. “There is no question that an EIS is required.”

Last week, BLM began implementing the plan by rounding up 900 wild horses from the Triple B Complex. Every horse removed is in danger of being killed if Congress grants BLM’s request to destroy or sell for slaughter tens of thousands of wild horses in holding facilities and on the range. Eighty percent of Americans, including 83% of Trump voters and 77% of Clinton voters, oppose the BLM’s lethal plan.

“With the pending roundup of 8,000 additional wild horses from these complexes over the next several years, and the castration of wild stallions and use of an unproven birth control vaccine on the line, it’s important to take a stand now,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of the American Wild Horse Conservation. “BLM must not be given carte blanche to implement a ten-year plan that will destroy these unique, federally-protected wild horse populations.”

Photographer Kimerlee Curyl stated, “The wild horses of the Antelope and Triple B Complexes in Nevada are a magnificent natural resource and historic symbol of the wild West. Our government should be protecting and nurturing these incredible national treasures, not destroying them with a ten-year plan that will reduce their population to extinction levels.”

AWHC and Curyl assert that the real reason for the removal of the horses is to maximize taxpayer-subsidized livestock grazing on public lands in the area. The BLM authorizes up to 17,638 cow/calf pairs or 88,190 sheep to graze in the Antelope and Triple B Complexes each year, while restricting the number of horses to a maximum of 1,678 wild horses, or one horse per 2,324 acres. This week, the government announced it was reducing the livestock grazing fee on public lands to $1.45 per Animal Unit Month, far below the market rate of $20/AUM/month for grazing on private land in the West.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC) is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Its grassroots mission is endorsed by a coalition of more than 60 horse advocacy, humane, and public interest organizations.

Kimerlee Curyl is a renowned wild horse photographer who regularly photographs Nevada's wild horses.