The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing for another round up of horses and burros that’s provoking advocates to question if it’ll be as deadly as round ups past.
A judge has asked federal land managers to explain why they should be allowed to continue capturing more than 2,500 wild horses in northeastern Nevada — a roundup opponents say is illegal and has left 31 mustangs dead in 26 days. Wild Horse Education, a nonprofit seeking to protect the horses, has sued the Bureau of Land Management and is seeking a court order to temporarily halt the roundup halfway between Reno and Salt Lake City. Among other things, it says the agency is violating its own safety standards that prohibit roundups in extreme heat and the use of helicopters to assist in the capture of the animals when foals are present.
Following the deaths of multiple wild horses during public land roundups in Nevada this summer, activists are pressing for urgent changes in the way the federal government controls the West’s sprawling equine population. “This is probably the worst roundup I’ve seen in a very, very, very long time,” Laura Leigh, founder of the Nevada-based nonprofit…
A total of 21 wild horses have died in a two-part roundup in eastern Nevada, and activists have sued in federal district court hoping to stop "unnecessary death and suffering."