Nearly 5,000 wild horses in Wyoming may lose their freedom to accommodate the livestock industry
A lower court has approved the Bureau of Land Management's plans to start rounding up the animals, but horse advocates are fighting back against the decision.
Nearly 5,000 wild horses in the Wyoming Checkerboard could be rounded up after a lower court authorized the plans by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The court order, issued Wednesday by the US District Court for the District of Wyoming, gives the BLM broad discretion to eliminate Herd Management Areas and start rounding up wild horses as early as October 1, 2024.
In response, a coalition of wild horse advocates, conservationists, and academics filed a notice of appeal with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the roundups directly contradict the plain language of the federal Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
American Wild Horse Conservation (AWHC), the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Western Watersheds Project, author Chad Hanson, and wildlife photographers Carol Walker and Kimerlee Curyl, filed the lawsuit in May of last year, challenging the BLM's decision to reduce wild horse populations in the region.
“If allowed to stand, this flawed decision would give the BLM a new way to eradicate federally protected wild horses and burros from our public lands,” said Suzanne Roy, Executive Director of American Wild Horse Conservation. “We expected this case to be decided by a higher court, and we are returning to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, where we have already twice prevailed in defending the Red Desert’s wild horses from this special-interest-driven eradication plan.”
BLM approved plans to round up the horses last year as part of a lawsuit filed against the BLM by the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA). The RSGA’s ranching members hold permits to graze their private livestock on the public lands for extremely low-cost, taxpayer-subsidized grazing fees.
The lawsuit demanded that the BLM remove federally protected wild horses from more than two million acres of land in the Checkerboard area in southern Wyoming. In 2013, the BLM came to a legal settlement under a consent decree with RSGA and agreed to change their management plan to reduce wild horse numbers in the area.
“Congress unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971 precisely because these animals are an ‘integral part’ of America’s landscape,” said Joanna Grossman, Ph.D., equine program director for the Animal Welfare Institute. “The district court’s decision robs federally protected horses of their rightful place on public lands designated for their habitat — lands that the BLM has acknowledged can sustain these beloved herds.”
Erik Molvar of Western Watersheds Project, who previously appeared on the Species Unite podcast in an episode titled ‘The American Wild Horse Crisis’, said, “The decision to remove wild horses from the Red Desert was always about the livestock industry's preferences, not the health of the lands.”
Photo: American Wild Horse Campaign
The horse advocates’ lawsuit challenges a BLM Record of Decision that approves an amendment to a land use plan. This amendment aims to reclassify the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin Herd Management Areas (HMA) as Herd Areas, setting the authorized wild horse population to zero. As a result, all wild horses in these areas would be rounded up.
The Adobe Town HMA would also be reduced by half, leading to a decrease in the wild horse population to below 1,338 - the number designated by the BLM to maintain a “thriving natural ecological balance” with other land uses.
“For well over a decade we have been fighting on behalf of the Red Desert's iconic wild horses,” said Kimerlee Curyl, wild horse photographer. “Giving up on them is not an option; putting a stop to archaic practices is, however. We remain convinced that the wild horse plan amendment is contradictory to the federal law that protects our wild horses and burros, and we are committed to holding the agency accountable.”
Learn more about why America’s wild horses are in crisis and what can be done about it here. Sign our urgent petition urging the Secretary of the Interior to stop the BLM.’s planned round-ups of thousands of wild horses here.
Animal agriculture is devastating the planet and destroying the lives of trillions of animals, including wild horses. Be a part of the solution by choosing plant-based foods. To start, take part in the Species Unite 30-Day Plant Powered Challenge here.
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