Federal Judge takes BLM to task over mustangs

The roundup of nearly 1,300 horses, which began July 20, is scheduled to end this week. The horses targeted in the Triple B roundup are among an estimated 2,200 that roam a series of horse management areas covering a total of 1.7 million acres southeast of Elko and northwest of Ely in eastern Nevada. BLM officials maintain the area can only sustain between 500 and 900 horses.

By SCOTT SONNER — Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — A federal judge in Nevada is taking the U.S. government to task for misconduct by a helicopter contractor during one of the biggest mustang roundups in the West, granting a rare emergency order sought by wild horse protection advocates who argue all of the gathers on public lands are inhumane and illegal.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben denied a request late Tuesday to halt the roundup at the Triple B complex in northeast Nevada near the Utah line. But he did issue a temporary restraining order banning any mistreatment of mustangs like the Wild Horse Freedom Federation caught on camera earlier this month.

Laura Leigh, the vice president of the Texas-based group that filed the lawsuit against Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar, who oversees the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said it was a small but important victory in a larger effort to bring attention to what she says is the BLM's routine violation of federal laws protecting the horses.

"This is significant because the judge saw what we see every day," Leigh told The Associated Press.

"This is a recognition in the federal court system that there is something wrong with not only what is going on out there but something wrong with the justification process."

BLM officials denied the group's claims that the helicopter pilot on the video actually struck a horse with a helicopter skid on Aug. 11.

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Budget amendment votes: fish yes, horses no

By Pete Kasperowicz - 02/16/11 05:09 PM ET The Hill

The House on Wednesday voted to maintain $7.5 million for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service resource management program that gives grant money to private environmental groups.

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said the program's authorization has expired, but yet, "the money just keeps rolling on." McClintock's amendment was rejected in a voice vote.

The House did approve an amendment from Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) that would remove $2 million from the Bureau of Land Management as a way of protesting the Bureau's effort to manage the wild horse population in western states.

Burton criticized the Bureau's practice of transporting horses thousands of miles and keeping them in pens and said the cost of the program has more than tripled in the last 10 years. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) agreed and said the Bureau should control the size of herds through contraception, a less costly alternative.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) opposed Burton's amendment and said Congress has caused problems by preventing the slaughter of wild horses. But Burton's amendment was approved regardless.

Both amendments were considered as part of H.R. 1, the GOP's FY 2011 spending bill, which the House is considering throughout the week.