Opposition to State Intervention in Wyoming Wild Horse Roundup

ROCK SPRINGS, WY—The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign), The Cloud Foundation, Return to Freedom, Carol Walker, and Kimerlee Curyl have filed an opposition to the State of Wyoming’s motion to intervene in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The lawsuit challenges theBLM's plan to round up over 800 wild horses from the Adobe Town, Salt Wells, and Great Divide Basin Herd Management Areas (HMAs).

The groups issued a statement in response to Wyoming Governor Matt Mead’s comments on the roundup and the state's intervention.

• The BLM intends to remove wild horses from privateand public landsin the Adobe Town, Salt Wells, and Great Divide Basin HMAs, not just private lands as the Governor asserts.
• The state has no “sovereign right” to manage wild horses, because wild horses were granted federal protection under the federal Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which was passed unanimously by Congress in 1971.
• The state owns less than 4% of the land in these three HMAs and an even smaller percentage on the checkerboard lands in question.
• There is no overpopulation of horses in this area, and in fact, the proposed roundup will bring the populations below even BLM’s own established levels in violation of the Wild Horse Act and the BLM’s Resource Management Plans for these areas.

In response to the lawsuit, theBLMhas agreed todelay the roundup, which had been scheduled to begin on approximately Aug. 20, to at least Sept. 1.

Originally Posted By North County Gazette