Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
A horse-protection group seeks the postponement of a planned roundup of wild horses in eastern Nevada and western Utah.
Seeks postponement due to short notice so it can monitor
RENO — A group that advocates for protection of wild horses says a federal agency didn’t provide adequate notice of a weekslong roundup set to begin Monday in eastern Nevada and western Utah. The group is asking for a postponement.
The American Wild Horse Campaign said in a statement Friday that the Bureau of Land Management was violating the public’s First Amendment rights by not announcing the helicopter-assisted roundup until Thursday afternoon and by not allowing public observation of the roundup from horses in the Eagle Complex near Pioche until starting the second day.
Public observers need time to be in place at the operation’s remote location to see whether the roundup of the federally protected wild horses is being conducted in compliance with the BLM’s animal welfare policies, said Brieanah Schwartz, AWHC policy counsel.
The AWHC said a previous roundup in the same area included several violations.
Christopher Bush, communications director for the federal agency’s Nevada office, did not immediately respond Saturday to an emailed request for comment.
However, the BLM said in an earlier statement that it planned to conduct the roundup safely and efficiently.
The roundup is intended to prevent undue or unnecessary degradation of public lands “and to restore a thriving natural ecological balance and multiple-use relationship on public lands” consistent with federal law, the BLM statement said.
The agency said it planned to gather up to 1,700 “excess horses” and to remove up to 1,600 of them. Horses rounded up and removed will be transported to corrals in Sparks for evaluation and staging for the agency’s adoption and sale program, the BLM said.
“The BLM and its contractors will use the best available science and handling practices for wild horses while meeting overall gather goals and objectives in accordance with the Comprehensive Animal Welfare Policy,” the agency’s statement said.