Slaughter of nearly 500 wild horses delayed by court’s order

RENO, NEV. I A federal court judge in Reno, Nev. has granted a coalition of wild horse advocacy and conservation groups a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block the sale of unbranded horses at a slaughter auction scheduled this week in Fallon, Nev.
The groups sued to stop the sale of unbranded horses captured last weekend on public and tribal lands in northern Nevada, alleging that unbranded horses were likely federally protected wild horses originating from the nearby Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Little Owyhee Herd Management Area.
The order throws into question the auction at the Fallon Livestock Exchange, where nearly 500 horses are sitting in pens awaiting their fate. The horses in question were rounded up by the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone tribe with approval of the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM.
In response to the lawsuit filed by the public interest firm Meyer, Gltizenstein & Crystal with local counsel Gordon B. Cowan on behalf of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, its founding organization, Return to Freedom, The Cloud Foundation, the Western Watersheds Project and advocate Laura Leigh, U.S. District Court Judge Miranda M. Du found:
“Plaintiffs have shown serious questions …that wild horses were improperly rounded up during the gather from August 11-13, 2013. .. Plaintiffs have demonstrated an immediate threat of irreparable harm if the status quo is not maintained, that is the sale of wild horses and their possible slaughter. . . . The public interest is served when the court maintains the status quo to ensure wild horses are not improperly removed and auctioned for sale to potentially be slaughtered because of an agency action.”
Judge Du’s TRO prohibits the sale of all unbranded horses at the slaughter auction until the hearing.
“I wish we could save them all,” said Ginger Kathrens, executive director of The Cloud Foundation. “And I hope this ruling sends a message to the U.S. Forest Service that business as usual is a thing of the past. I’d like to thank my caring colleagues and our our attorneys for their tireless work to save our wild horses.”
“Judge Du has stepped in to do what the federal government refused to do: act to prevent federally protected wild horses from being sold at a slaughter auction,” said Suzanne Roy, director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. “We are grateful for this federal court decision, but remain outraged by the federal government’s complicity in this dirty operation that has sentenced hundreds of horses to horrific deaths at slaughter houses in Canada and Mexico.”
“Like the nearly 170 horses I rescued from this livestock auction three years ago, many of these horses are wild horses who were removed from federal lands; they were denied federal protection under the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, and the judge has taken a stand for all those mares, foals, yearlings and mature stallions who are a day away from being sold to kill buyers and sent to slaughter,” said Ellie Phipps Price, AWHPC supporter and owner of the renowned Durell Vineyard in Sonoma, California. “The tribes and the U.S. government need to choose birth control for wild horses over roundup and slaughter.”
“We want to get to the bottom of this and understand how wild horses may have been compromised through stealth negotiations between the federal government and the tribe,” said Neda DeMayo, president of Return to Freedom. “It is the legal responsibility of the Forest Service and the BLM to preserve and protect wild horses on our public lands. When wild horses roam outside of their designated herd management areas, it should be the concern of these agencies to return them to their rangelands, not support covert horse trading deals sending wild horses to auction and slaughter.”
“Sometimes the fight to protect our wild horses is difficult and complex. This decision shows that when we all work together and stay the course, we can achieve our mutual goals,” said Laura Leigh, founder of Wild Horse Education. “I am proud to be part of this effort. Together, we can turn this around to save America’s mustangs on our public lands in the West.”
A total of 467 horses were captured by the tribe and delivered to the slaughter auction. An undetermined number of these horses are unbranded and likely to be wild horses. The Forest Service has acknowledged that most of these horses will be purchased by kill buyers and trucked to slaughter plants in Canada or Mexico.