Federal agency given deadline to explain why deadly Nevada wild horse roundup should continue

RENO, Nev. — 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. “These 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,” she wrote in a letter to the committee chairman, Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, of Arkansas, and ranking U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. “Without meaningful reforms, BLM’s operations will continue to kill off these icons of the West in completely avoidable circumstances,” she wrote. Wild Horse Education’s motion for a temporary restraining order says there’s no legitimate reason to conduct the current roundup in extreme heat with helicopters when foals are present, “especially when the BLM has plenty of time to conduct this gather in a humane manner as the law requires.” “Without injunctive relief, plaintiffs will continue to be permanently and irrevocably harmed in witnessing the atrocious and horrific sights of wild horses and burros dying due to the inhumane handling, extreme heat and use of helicopters during foaling season.”