A federal judge sided with wild horse advocates April 19 when he declined to dismiss their lawsuit claiming that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) round up of approximately 2,000 animals from the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area near Susanville, Calif., was unlawful.
On July 15, 2010, attorneys Joseph Cotchette, Stuart Gross, William Spriggs, and Rachel Fazio filed the complaint in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of ecologist Chad Hanson; Barbara Clark, founder of the DreamCatcher Wild horse and Burro Sanctuary; Linda Hay; and the animal advocacy group In Defense of Animals. The complaint alleges that the gather violates the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 because it endangers horses. The Act protects mustangs and burros from harassment, capture or death, and places the animals' management under BLM jurisdiction.
The complaint also alleges that BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act. That Act requires federal agencies to consider environmental impacts of their proposed actions and offer to reasonable alternatives to those actions. The complaint alleges that the BLM failed to prepare an environmental impact study demonstrating that animals residing in the Twin Peaks management area exceed levels appropriate to maintain that range's ecological balance, and that the agency failed to offer alternatives to the gather for maintaining such an appropriate ecological balance.
The BLM sought the suit's dismissal on grounds that the case was moot because the gathers had already taken place.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England Jr. declined to dismiss the case, said a spokesperson for the court's clerk.
Judge Friedman Denies Preliminary Injunction But Questions BLM Policies Posted Dec 21, 2009 by laura allen, Animal Law Coalition
Update Dec. 23, 2009: Judge Paul L. Friedman has denied the motion by plaintiffs In Defense of Animals, Craig Downer and Terri Farley, for a preliminary injunction to stop the roundup of up to 2,736 wild horses from the Calico Mountain Complex herd management areas in Nevada.
But the judge has also rejected that BLM can continue to keep unadopted wild horses and burros in long term facilities. The judge agreed with the plaintiff that BLM has no authority to transport healthy unadoptable horses and hold them in long term holding facilities especially in places where they were not located previously, Oklahoma, Kansas or South Dakota.
The judge, however, found the plaintiffs did not raise this argument until their reply brief and it could not be the basis for a preliminary injunction. The judge said the defendants had not had time to brief the issue fully. The judge did reject the BLM's contention that Congress had ratified its policies of putting unadopted wild horses and burros into long term holding facilities by approving appropriations bills.
The judge suggested the agency postpone the roundup scheduled for December 28 but declined to issue an injunction at this time. The judge reasoned that if the BLM proceeds with the gather, knowing that long term holding may not be an option and with no funds under the Appropriations Act, FY 2010, for euthanization or sale for slaughter, the agency must come up with another solution for the horses it will have removed from the wild. The judge said that once removed as excess, the horses could not at that point simply be returned to the herd areas.
The judge found "untenable" the plaintiffs' other contention that BLM cannot round up and remove horses en masse. The court rejected the plaintiffs' interpretation of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1331 et seq, (WFRHBA) that BLM must determine on a case by case basis those horses deemed "excess" or causing an overpopulation, and then remove them under a tiered approach with the old, sick and lame taken first and then the healthy adoptable horses. The judge said such a process would put the BLM in "an impossible Catch-22" because the agency could not really evaluate the health or age of horses without capturing them first. The judge found the WFRHBA did not prohibit the BLM's current method of rounding up horses, separating them, sterlizing and returning some and placing others in short term holding facilities for adoption or sale.
Judge Friedman did also say the public and BLM's interest in controlling the overpopulation of wild horses could be negatively impacted by a delay. He said "issuance of an injunction at this stage might lead to substantial growth in already overpopulated herds" in the Calico Complex. The judge said that, according to BLM, a spring roundup could result in more injuries for the wild horses.
This ruling does not end the case. With this ruling, judge rejected the motion for a preliminary injunction to keep the status quo pending a final decision. It is a serious warning to BLM that the judge does not think its policy of keeping wild horses in long term holding facilities, is legal. But, unfortunately, unless BLM takes the judge's advice, the Calico roundup will proceed on Dec. 28.
At this point, the best course of action is to call on President Barack Obama and BLM to stop the roundups. Urge Congress to take action, too, and demand a stop to these roundups! Go here to find out how you can join the call for a moratorium on BLM roundups of wild horses and burros.
Washington, DC(November 24, 2009) -The U.S. Department of Justice announced tonight that the massive roundup and removal of thousands of horses from public land in northwestern Nevada will be delayed until December 28 as a direct result of the filing of a lawsuit by In Defense of Animals and renowned ecologist Craig Downer on November 23.
Tomorrow, IDA and Mr. Downer plan to file a motion for a permanent injunction, with supporting affidavits from horse experts and eyewitnesses to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundups. The motion will ask Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for theDistrict of Columbiato stop the roundup altogether.
The roundup and removal of 80-90 percent of the estimated 3,055 wild horses living in the BLM's Calico Mountain Complex was originally scheduled to begin December 1. The BLM has received over 10,000 public comments in opposition to the roundup.
"We welcome this moratorium on the capture and inhumane treatment of the Calico horses," said William Spriggs, Esq. of Buchanan, Ingersoll and Rooney, pro bono attorney for IDA and Mr. Downer. "The BLM plan for a massive helicopter roundup of these horses is entirely illegal."
"We are confident that the court will agree thatAmerica's wild horses are protected by law from BLM’s plan to indiscriminately chase and stampede them into corrals for indeterminate warehousing away from their established habitat," he said. "The magnificent wild horses and burros of the American West are an important part of our national heritage and must be preserved."
The Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act, passed unanimously by Congress in 1971, designated America's wild horses and burros as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West," specifying they "shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death … [and that] to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of public lands.”
Since 1971, the BLM has removed over 270,000 horses from their Western home ranges and taken away nearly 20 million acres of wild horse habitat. Only 37,000 wild horses and burros remain on public lands in the West. By contrast, millions of cattle graze our public lands. Thirty-two thousand wild horses who have been removed from the range are already held in government holding facilities, and the BLM intends to round up 12,000 more horses in FY 2010.
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In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitat through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in Mumbai, India, Cameroon, Africa, and rural Mississippi.
A federal judge has cleared the way for a government roundup of about 190 wild horses along the Montana-Wyoming border.
Two Colorado-based advocacy groups went to court to stop the culling of the herd, saying it's one of the most genetically pure herds of Spanish colonial horses in the United States. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected their request for an injunction.
The helicopter roundup, delayed since Monday, begins tomorrow at the 38,000-acre Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. Operated by the Bureau of Land Management, it was the first nationally designated home for wild horses.
The entire herd will be captured; 70 adults and their foals will be put up for adoption. The remainder will be freed after mares are given a contraceptive vaccine. The BLM has more information on the wild herd and efforts to control the population. Sept. 26 is designated National Wild Horse Adoption Day. One of the groups that oppose the roundup, The Cloud Foundation, is critical of the contractor hired by the BLM. It writes that contractor Dave Cattoor of Maybell, Colo., "was indicted by a federal grand jury and pled guilty to illegally hunting wild horses, aiding and abetting in 1992. He rounded up protected American mustangs, corralled into pens, loaded them into trucks, and hauled them to a slaughter house in Texas where they lost their lives." (Can you believe that!!! I'm outraged!!!)
The group states that since 2000, the BLM and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have paid Cattoor more than $13.4 million to round up wild horses. Read some testimonials about Cattoor and his work. The Cloud Foundation and its allies argued unsuccessfully in court that such roundups violate the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.
THANK YOU for forwarding Craig Downer's letter. His fact-based research on the WH&B issue and the eloquence with which he writes is highly respected and should seriously be considered in all BLM actions concerning the management of the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Reading this letter made my heart ache even more for our wild ones and further sparked the desire to do more for their survival.
The following are some of the great WH&B publicity opportunities that occurred at the Wild Burro Rescue booth at World Fest Events last Saturday:
The event went extremely well in regards to publicity and education concerning the plight of wild horses and burros. We were interviewed by the TV program "Animal Planet" and did we ever get the word out on how the Wild Horse and Burro Program has been mismanaged! We also plugged the equine welfare bills before Congress so hopefully our interview will be televised soon.
Katia Louise, the producer/host of a talk radio program for animal protection (www.wflendangeredstreamlive.org) interviewed us as well. Then an independent Los Angeles TV station stopped by for another interview.
I spoke to various filmmakers wanting to document the story of the wild horses, and shared with them some of the background materials on the WH&B issues including info on your organization, two of Cindy MacDonald's in depth reports ("The Use of Helicopters to Remove Wild Horses and Burros from Public Lands" and "The Jackson Mountains Wild Horses: A Case Study in the Mismanagement of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Program"), and author Deanne Stillman's article "They Also Served -So Long Mojave Burros". I also included the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources' July 9, 2008 letter to the BLM calling for accountability concerning the agency's years of mismanagement of the Wild Horse and Burro Program.
An ASPCA Animal Cruelty agent stopped by and expressed interest in getting the ASPCA involved. What really grabbed his attention was equine photographer Carol Walker's picture of mustangs panicking in a BLM holding pen that I had enlarged plus a poster of 12 pages from Cindy MacDonald's reporting "Using Helicopters to Remove Wild Horses and Burros..."
And finally we got a lot of signatures on the Petition to Congress from the American Herds website and many visitors participated in the Postcards to Congress Campaign.
Although World Fest Events was not the best venue for donations, it was great for getting the word out about our wild ones. Our next events will be the Hollywood Farmers Market where quite a few celebrities frequent and in July, a fair in Malibu. Now these two events will be much more high profile in regards to eduction and publicity opportunities.
I am opposed to helicopter roundups of wild horses and burros, for these are both unnecessary and cruel.They result in many injuries and deaths.And they have already greatly disrupted the social structures of the Western herds and decimated these populations, either entirely eliminating them from their legal areas or reducing them to non-viable population levels, even according to BLM’s very questionable standards of 150 for Minimum Viable Population (MVP).According to the IUCN Species Survival Commission Equid Specialist Group (1992), 2,500 individuals are necessary for the long-term survival, or viability, of an equid population living in the wild, and 500 for a tightly managed domesticated population.It is apparent from this erudite guidance that the BLM is again setting the horses and burros up for inbreeding and die out – something that seems to have been its plan all along.
I have noted the excellent work of Cindy MacDonald on her web page: www.AmericanHerds.com.Here is revealed what has happened in many of the zeroed-out herd and herd management areas, both in Nevada as throughout the West. The horses and burros are no longer present in spite of their legal right as the principal species named for these areas under the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971.In their place are many livestock and/or big game animals.The Delamar HMA of Ely District, Nevada, is one herd I have visited – a beautiful place for wild horses but now only full of cattle, for zeroed out.Clover Mountain, South Pancakes, also Ely District, and in southern California Coyote Canyon for Spanish mustangs and Clark Mountain for a distinctive race of burros – also zeroed out in spite of the law and their popularity with the public.And the list goes on ad nauseam.
Why aren’t BLM and USFS employing C.F.R. 4710.5 & .6, a.k.a. Closure to Livestock, in order to maintain viable herds on what is, in fact, only a small fraction of the public lands legally designated for the wild equids?Clearly, the federal government is in the position to assure viable populations, but is refusing to do so and is, in fact, siding with the traditional enemies of the wild horses and burros in the wild.Alarmingly, 1.6 million acres of legal wild horse territory have recently been zeroed out by BLM in its Ely Nevada District alone.In Montana, 6 out of the original 7 herd areas have been zeroed out representing 83% of the legal acreage, and the one remaining herd, the authentic Spanish Pryor Mountain mustangs, has a non-viable so-called Appropriate Management Level below 150.In New Mexico 77% of the legal acreage has been zeroed out.In California, 65%!In Wyoming, 54%!In Colorado, 45%!.Refer to my Columbus Day-2008 speech “Forever Wild and Free” for fuller details (wildhorsepreservation.com).
Presently before Congress, Bill H.R. 1018 would reinstate the proscription against helicopter and other mechanized roundups as well as against sale to slaughter buyers, a.k.a. the Burn’s Amendment, both of which are being used to further decimate the herds.By breaking up the band and herd social structures, these roundups cause remaining horses to reproduce at very young ages, something that is prevented when the family units are in tact.Also these greatly traumatize the horses who are captured, causing them to experience an equid version of Post Combat Traumatic Syndrome that remains with them for the rest of their lives!– Business as usual cannot be allowed to continue for our nation’s scant remaining wild horses and burros, for the motto of such is: “the only good horse or burro is a slave or dead horse or burro”, similar to what used to be said of the Grizzly Bear, Wolf, Mountain Lion and even the naturally living Native American.Nationwide, there are now less wild horses and burros that were present on the public BLM and USFS lands at the passage of their protective act in 1971 when they were considered to be “fast disappearing from the American scene” – and this tells a lot about who their worse enemies are, i.e. those charged by law with protecting them and their right to freedom in their legally designated herd areas!
As a wildlife ecologist, I recommend that America’s Wild Horse and Burro program be revamped.Its focus must be placed on restoring truly long-term viable wild living horse and burro herds in areas of adequate size and resources to sustain such.Through the astute employment of Reserve Design, the wild herds can fill their ecological niche to become self-stabilizing populations and in the process greatly aid in preventing catastrophic fires now menacing the West.This they can do, true to their semi-nomadic life style, through the widespread consumption of dry flammable vegetation.In this alarming era of Global Warming, they are here to help if we can only recognize this and allow them to be themselves.Together with other components of the ecosystem, they will greatly aid in restoring the West: its soils, its waters, its biodiversity, its vitality and its beauty as the returned natives they, in fact, are, if we people can only learn to appreciate them in depth and just give them the chance.
In closing, as before, I offer my collaboration in this most crucial and timely challenge.
The only reason man is meddling with the wild horses & burros on public lands is that someone wants those lands for something else. It is an old-fashioned range war, with this part of America's true heritage on the brink of extinction. Birth control is not the answer. It is yet another intrusion into these horses' lives.
This would be an opportune time for him to "ride in on a white horse" and lead the Board to declare the Coyote Canyon Wild Horses a Heritage Species. Please call him and write to request this. You may wish to use the information below.
kat
(Kathleen Hayden)
To contact Bill Horn, San Diego County Supervisor, go to his website
From the Coyote Canyon Caballos d'Anza...
Coyote Canyon Caballos D’Anza
Wild Horses in Coyote Canyon
Colonial Spanish horses were first introduced in the coastal regions of San Diego County by settlement of missions and ranches. Further inland, Cahuillan pictographs of mounted Spaniards at the north end of Coyote Canyon (La Puerta) indicate the early expedition of Pedro Feges in 1772 or Anza in 1774.
This band of Native Americans made their home in Coyote Canyon and surrounding mountains along the NE Corner of San Diego and bordering Riverside counties.Long before western settlement a tributary of Coyote Canyon was named Horse Canyon after the residing herd.During the infamous 1851 Garra revolt and raid on Warner’ Ranch the Cahuilla’s added more cattle and horses to their Coyote Canyon herd.According to author Lester Reed, at the turn of the century, Native Wrangler Carlos Moreno referred to the canyon horses as “The Ranch Ramuda”.Bands of the herd ranged east and west as far as Beauty Mountain, into the surrounding mountain valleys.Indian ranching continued in the Canyon until the late 1970’s when California State Parks expanded the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The Federal designated Coyote Canyon herd area was
8-8-05 California Wild Horse and Burro Program Manager wrote .. when BLM began revisiting the Coyote Canyon horse situation, I also worked with the Solicitor's Office who said BLM erred in relinquishing control of the Coyote Canyon animals to State Parks) The Desert Protection Act pretty much gave control of the land and all resources to National Park Service
With the assistance of Ca. Senator Bill Morrow and BLM, Coyote Canyon Caballos d’Anza rescued four of the Wild Stallions with the BLM promise that the herd could be restored pending acquisition of an alternative sanctuary. In January 09 rare wild Spanish Foundation mares were acquired to re establish, maintain and preserve a unique gene pool.
As the only Heritage Herd of Spanish Horses in San Diego County, and the last wild herd in Southern California, the Coyote Canyon horses represent a vanishing element of our local pioneering landscape.
In 1971 Congress unanimously declared that wild free roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West that enrich the lives of the American People” They were to be managed on their historic and native ranges.By operation of law they are wild life. (Supreme Court seminal case, Kleppe v. New Mexico)
The Coyote Canyon herd’s vital legacy of cultural, educational, aesthetic, and inspirational benefits shouldbe maintained as our heritage and the inheritance for future generations as supported by otherHeritage Acts.
With the 1966 passage of the Nation Historic Preservation Act “Congress declared that the spirit and direction of the Nation are founded upon, and reflected in, its historic heritage.”
“Knowing and Understanding our Past, Inspiration For Future Generations, and providing a sense of roots and identity define motives for historic preservation.This includes Identification, documentation, curation, acquisition, protection, management, rehabilitation, restoration, stabilization, maintenance and reconstruction, or any combination of the foregoing activities.Grants are available to accomplish these noble endeavors
The Coyote Canyon Herd was sequestered for more than two centuries from other wild horse herds. As a result they evolved into a distinct population segment. This evolutionmeets the criteria of both state and federal statutes of endangered and threatened species.
“Endangered” when its survival and reproduction in the wild are in immediate jeopardy from one or more causes, including loss of habitat, change in habitat, over exploitation, predation, competition, disease, or other factors; or
“Rare” when either: Although not presently threatened with extinction, the species is existing in such small numbers throughout all or a significant portion of its range that it may become endangered if its environment worsens; or
The species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range and may be considered “threatened” as that term is used in the Federal Endangered Species Act.(ESA) This mandates emergency designation of native habitat known as ACECs,
BLM settled the native/feral argument stating "The issue of a wild horse as an invasive species is moot since the 1971 WHBA gave wild free-roaming horses "special" status based on their heritage of assisting man settle the "west”
Coyote Canyon Caballos d’Anza was formed as a 501 3c to acquire a permanent localherd area as sanctuary on Federal lands. This was overlooked in the 1971 inventory of their native ranges resulting in a defective land management plan.
The currently vacant Beauty Mountain grazing allotment and contiguous BLM acquisitions would correct the defection.It is within the newly passed California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act.
The 1945 California Riding and Hiking Trail, California’s first legislated trail, lies within the allotment and provides the public opportunity to experience this unique part of Ca. History.Restoration of the Coyote Canyon horses and the Trail would maintain both historic icons NOW, and into the future.
Please request that your Supervisors declare the Coyote Canyon Horses our local Heritage Herd to support an emergency NEPA to expedite restoration.Their support for the Beauty Mountain Sanctuary would facilitate multiple agency participation in land planning for the Beauty Mountain Sanctuary.Please also contactSenator Feinstein and Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack, Congressman Issa and Ca. State Senator Hollingsworth.Request an emergency NEPA fora permanent Coyote Canyon Wild Horse Herd Management Area.
On behalf of our wild horses, thank you.
For more information or donations for feed and vet care please contact
This blog is dedicated to bringing to the public's attention the plight of the wild horses of the United States of America, and specifically to the battle now being waged to restore the Coyote Canyon Wild Horse Herd to its native habitat, the Beauty Mountainregion of federal lands located in San Diego and Riverside Counties. This area is representative of the habitat that this unique and historic band of wild horses was removed from. Beauty Mountain is adjacent to Coyote Canyon, site of the herd area set aside to provide a home range for these animals under the Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act granting them protection in their free roaming condition in perpetuity.
The Coyote Canyon Herd is a microcosm of the wild equid problem and solution.
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