Lawsuit Challenges Sale and Slaughter of Wild Horses in California

October 22, 2018

Two animaladvocacygroups havefiled a lawsuitin federal court to block the U.S. Forest Service from selling wild horses gathered in a round-up at Modoc National Forest, Northern California.

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) and the Animal Legal Defense Fund announced the filing in a statement released Monday.

The Forest Service has gathered 422 horses — of a planned 1,000 — as of Oct. 20. The horse gather began to reduce a herd of nearly 4,000 that is 10 times larger than what the Forest Service says the land can support.

While most horses were gathered without injury, two horses had to be treated for lacerations. Additionally, two mares were reported euthanized for unspecified pre-existing conditions, and an orphan foal was placed in foster care.

The horse gather drew attention after the Forest Service announced that, after being put up for adoption for 30 days, horses 10 and older would be made available for sale without limitation, opening them up to purchase by “kill buyers” who could sell the horses to foreign slaughterhouses.

The reason for the sale without limitation is that holding the horses indefinitely would be fiscally irresponsible, a Forest Service spokesman previously told McClatchy.

The Forest Service has since extended the timeline for adoption to 60 days. Horses younger than 10 will be adopted out through the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees most wild horses and is restricted from selling to kill buyers.

In addition to the lawsuit, the Forest Service has faced bipartisan calls to halt the horse gather until assurances could be made that the horses wouldn’t be sold for slaughter.

That included letters from Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Republican California Assemblywoman Marie Waldron.

Originally posted by The Sacramento Bee