Wild Horse Group Criticizes BLM Roundup in Southwest Wyoming

The American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) is raising concerns over the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) recent wild horse roundup in southern Wyoming. The group accuses the BLM of removing more horses than legally permitted by excluding young horses from their counts.

The BLM initiated a roundup last month in the checkerboard region along Interstate 80 near Rock Springs, aiming to remove 1,560 horses from three management areas. However, the American Wild Horse Conservation claims that the agency is not including foals or weanlings in its removal tally, pushing the actual number of horses being removed to almost 2,000.

"The BLM has found a new way to wipe out Wyoming’s wild horses by pretending that young horses don’t count," Suzanne Roy, the organization’s director, stated. The American Wild Horse Conservation has frequently clashed with the BLM over the management of wild horses in Wyoming and across western states.

As of last week, the organization reported that the BLM had removed 298 horses from the range during the roundup, with 52 of those being foals, which were not counted toward the total removal goal.

BLM spokeswoman Cindy Wertz confirmed, "BLM did not count the foals," explaining that the agency does not count foals in the population or removal totals until January 1 of the year following their birth.

The current roundup stems from two rounds of litigation involving livestock operators, wild horse advocates, and the federal government. The Rock Springs Grazing Association reached a settlement with the BLM in 2013, requiring periodic removal of wild horses from the "checkerboard" region along I-80, where public and private lands are interspersed.

Following the settlement, the BLM sought to remove all horses from a portion of the checkerboard, arguing it was impossible to prevent the federally protected wild horses from straying onto private parcels. Wild horse advocates sued, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last fall that the BLM’s attempt to remove all horses from the region violated the federal Wild Horses Act.

"Though the BLM’s solution to the problem presented by the checkerboard may seem reasonable, it is not in accordance with the [law]," wrote Judge Monroe McKay.

The current roundup is based on that judgment.

Originally posted by KPVI