A total of 2,643 animals have been rounded up in Nevada* for transport to government holding pens since July 9, 2023–among them more than 260 foals. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employees use helicopters (exceptionally frightening to the horses) to assist wranglers on horseback who chase the mustangs into traps (makeshift corals on the high-desert range). The roundups are not only arguably illegal according to the government’s own rules, but are exceptionally cruel. According to representative U.S. Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada, since the roundups began the horses have suffered through a host of tragic injuries, ranging from broken necks, broken legs and even dehydration due to the oppressive triple digit heat. There have been numerous horse deaths due to the roundup, including one horse with a broken leg that was chased for 35 minutes before it was euthanized.
While the feds maintain the roundups are necessary for the ecology, critics say the real purpose of the removals is to appease ranchers who don’t want horses competing with their livestock for precious forage in the high desert.
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Legal efforts to stop the roundups
Nonprofit organizations and U.S. representatives have tried unsuccessfully in the past to get a restraining order to stop the roundups. In this most recent effort, U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks in Reno, Nevada declined to grant the Aug. 1, 2023 request for a temporary restraining order to halt the Nevada roundup. But on August 4, 2023, he put the BLM on notice that it has until 4 p.m. Monday, August 7, 2023 to formally respond to the allegations of illegal mistreatment of the animals.
He set a hearing for Wednesday, August 9, 2023 to hear more detailed arguments if necessary from lawyers on both sides.
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Source: AP
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*Nevada is home to nearly two-thirds of the 68,928 wild horses the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has estimated are roaming federal lands in 10 Western states stretching from California to Montana.
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