Wild Horse Family in the Checkerboard in Wyoming
For Immediate Release
New Lawsuit Filed to Stop BLM Wild Horse Roundup in Wyoming Checkerboard
Action Comes As Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Considers Legality of BLM Decision to Eradicate Wild Horses from Public Lands in the Area
Cheyenne, WY (October 4, 2016) – The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), Return to Freedom, The Cloud Foundation, Carol Walker, Director of Field Documentation of Wild Horse Freedom Federation and photographer Kimerlee Curyl filed suit yesterday in U.S. District in Wyoming against the BLM, challenging the agency’s decision to conduct another wild horse roundup in the Wyoming Checkerboard in the southern part of the state. The wild horse advocates are represented by Bill Eubanks of the public interest environmental law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Eubanks LLP.
The lawsuit is the latest chapter in an ongoing legal battle against over the BLM’s plan to eradicate wild horses from a two million acre area of public and private land at the request of the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGS). The RSGA owns or leases the private land blocks in the Checkerboard and views wild horses as competition for taxpayer subsidized livestock grazing on the public lands in the area.
On September 19, 2016 the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on the plaintiffs’ appeal of a lawsuit challenging the 2014 BLM Checkerboard roundup in which 1,260 wild horses were rounded up by helicopters and removed from the range. At issue in both cases is the legality of the BLM’s reliance on a request from private landowners to remove wild horses from private lands as an excuse to eradicate them from the public lands in the area as well.
“The BLM is turning over control of more than one million acres of public land to private grazing interests that want wild horses eradicated from the range. This sets a terrible precedent that jeopardizes the safety and future of wild horses across the West,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of AWHPC.
“The BLM’s concession to wipe out wild horses in Wyoming is not only illegal, but a blatant slap in the face to the majority of Americans who want to enjoy wild horses on our public lands,” said Neda DeMayo, CEO of Return to Freedom. “We’re committed to upholding the law and protecting our wild horses and public lands from special interests who monopolize the resources there.”
“It doesn’t speak well of BLM, when the agency jumps the gun while the jury is, literally, still out on this issue,” states Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation. “Until the Checkerboard lands are consolidated into large blocks of private and public lands, this controversy will continue.”
“The BLM once again shows blatant disregard for both legal statutes and the wild horses in its care. We should not have to fight to protect our wild horses from the BLM,” said Carol Walker, who has extensively observed and photographed the wild horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard.
The latest lawsuit challenges the BLM’s decision to round up an estimated 550 wild horses from the Adobe Town, Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herd Management Areas beginning on October 18. The plaintiffs will seek an injunction to prevent the BLM from beginning the roundup until the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the initial lawsuit.
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is a national wild horse advocacy organization whose grassroots mission is endorsed by a coalition of more than 60 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations. AWHPC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.
Return to Freedom (RTF), is a national non-profit dedicated to wild horse preservation through sanctuary, education and conservation, and also operates the American Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc, CA.
The Cloud Foundation (TCF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with 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.
Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl are renowned wild horse photographers who regularly photograph the wild horses of the Adobe Town, Great Divide Basin and Salt Wells Creek HMAs.
###
Related Posts: https://www.wildhoofbeats.com/blog/two-wild-horse-cases-argued-at-the-10th-circuit-court-in-denver
2 Comments
Carol, THANK YOU for keeping us abreast of these issues. We need to SLAM the BLM; I’m all for having the entire agency eliminated, if possible since they are NO LONGER PROTECTING the animals they were created to protect. What will happen to all those poor creatures in the BLM”s holding pens. There is no way that 40,000+ people can step forward to adopt them all at one time, and the BLM knows it. The BLM should BE MADE TO SEND THESE HORSES BACK TO THE RANGE where they came from, the land we pay for with our tax dollars! Please advise how I/we can be of service to any of you – from the east coast/USA.
Ginny Jenkins
PHL, PA
PLEASE WE MUST STOP KILLING GODS PRECIOUS CREATION!
MANKIND HAS DESTROYED SO MUCH ALREADY WITH BUILDINGS AND CONCRETE EVERYWHERE.
WE MUST RESPECT AND PROTECT ALL OF GOD’S CREATION, THE EARTH AND WILDLIFE.
MOST OF MANKIND IS SELF ABSORBED. THOSE WHO ARE NOT SELF ABSORBED ARE DOING ALL THEY CAN TO PROTECT WHAT NATURE AND WILD ANIMALS GOD CREATED TO THE BEST OF TEHIR EFFORTS AND I APPLAUD THOSE HUMANE, LOVING HUMANS.