Lawsuits & Public Outrage Halt Dangerous BLM Wild Horse Sterilization Experiments

Washington, DC (September 9, 2016)- The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has canceled its controversial sterilization experiments on wild mares, following significant public opposition and legal actions. The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign) and The Cloud Foundation played pivotal roles in this victory.

This morning, theBLMnotifiedThe Cloud Foundation(TCF) and theAmerican Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign)(AWHC) of the cancellation of the highly controversial sterilization (spaying) experiments on wild mares.

In public statements and testimony, theBLMcredited the TCF/AWHC lawsuit as the reason it was dropping the cruel experiments.

This reversal comes in the wake of massive public opposition and a spate of legal actions, including a Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed by TCF and AWHC, seeking an injunction under the First Amendment of the Constitution to allow them to video record the proceedings.

Responding toBLM’s decision to drop the sterilization research, TCF and AWHC attorney Nick Lawton ofMeyer, Glitzenstein and Eubanks, stated:

Ginger Kathrens, TCF Executive Director and member of theBLM’sNational Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board, states:

At the same time as theBLMinformed TCF and AWHC that it was canceling the sterilization research, theBLMNational Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Boardpassed a resolution urging the “euthanasia” of wild horses currently in government holding facilities. (Currently 45,000 wild horses and burros are held in short- and long-term holding facilities.)

The resolution is the culmination of decades ofBLMmismanagement of wild horses and burros and the public rangelands. Livestock has historically degradedpublic landsand theBLMhas created a crisis both on and off the range by continuing to use roundups and removals to manage wild horses and burros instead of using humane fertility control, which has been available for nearly 30 years and is recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.

Kathrens was the sole dissenting vote against the Advisory Board resolution calling for the 'euthanasia' of horses in holding.

Suzanne Roy, AWHC Executive Director stated:

On August 15, 2016, TCF and AWHC filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction to stop the experiments unless the agency allowed public observation and videotaping of the invasive procedures.

Government lawyers this morning informed the groups that the agency did not intend to pursue the surgical sterilization of mares at this time, if ever.

The Cloud Foundationis a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Westernpublic landswith a focus on protecting Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana. Cloud is the subject of Foundation founder Ginger Kathrens' groundbreaking PBS/Nature documentaries.

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