Roundup on the Illegal Horse Roundup

Outrage at the Bureau of Land Management's wild horse roundup plans has been stampeding through the blogosphere for several months. In case you've missed it, here are the basics:

The BLM claimed that the wild horses in northwestern Nevada's Calico Mountains Complex are overpopulated and starving, and  proposed a roundup of 2,500-3,000 animals, or almost 90 percent of the population. Once the horses were herded into pens by noisy helicopters, they would be sent to government holding facilities. Some of them would eventually be put up for adoption but, at the proposed rate, many would inevitably be sold off for slaughter across the border (since it's illegal in the U.S.).

A few minor details: the horses are supposed to be protected under the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. The BLM isn't authorized to round up horses unless they're excess and adoptable, and even then, it's supposed to be a last resort after on-the-range population control efforts have failed. According to lawyers working with In Defense of Animals (IDA), the holding facilities around the country aren't legal either, because the horses aren't supposed to be relocated to private lands or lands where they didn't exist before 1971.

Animal welfare groups have contended (with photographic and statistical evidence) that not only are the animals protected, but the Calico horses are neither overpopulated nor starving. On December 23, the U.S. District Court Judge who was presiding over the IDA lawsuit agreed that the BLM's plans are likely illegal, and recommended that the roundup be postponed.

But on December 28, the roundup began. Despite a statement by BLM chief Don Glenn earlier in the  month that "All of our gathers are open to the public; the public is invited to watch all the time," the roundups took place on private lands, where the treatment of the horses could be kept secret. So much for transparency.

Yet IDA has been sending reports from the front lines, including a foal who died of heart failure during the panic of the roundup, a mare that was shot, and a horse nicknamed "Freedom" who escaped the pen, but may not have escaped injury from the barbed wire.

Hundreds of supposedly protected horses have been permanently removed from the Calico Mountains Complex in the first week of the roundup. This tragic scenario isn't unique. IDA just reported a close call for 200 horses in the Confusion Mountains in Utah, where a roundup was postponed pending an environmental assessment, thanks to thousands of emails protesting the lack of transparency and public input. In mid-December, the BLM was caught in a secret roundup of California's Buckhorn herd, which they claimed happened without public  notice due to an "internal communications error."

So far the Bureau of Land Management has proven deceitful and inhumane. The wild horse program desperately needs an overhaul, and the horses need an immediate reprieve from these "gathers." Tell President Obama and Congress that these protected American icons need protection now.

For more details on the wild horse roundups, visit the IDA blog, and follow them on Twitter to get the latest updates. You can also find additional information on the Animal Law Coalition website.

Photo: In Defense of Animals