Posted July 28, 2014
Two additional parties joined a federal lawsuit concerning
wild horse policy, which demands the government gather and remove excess
horses, according to an Ag Weekly article by Dylan Woolf Harris available here.
In an amended complaint filed Monday, Nevada Bighorns
Unlimited and Crawford Cattle were listed as plaintiffs, joining Nevada
Association of Counties (NACO) and the Nevada Farm Bureau Federation, which
were the first companies to file suit in December.
The plaintiffs are alleging that the Bureau of Land
Management is not following the law by allowing wild horse populations to exceed
past the agency-identified carrying capacities, which results in damage to the
land, wildlife, and horses.
“First and
foremost, Defendants’ failures to properly follow the law have gravely harmed,
and will continue to gravely injure the very animals that the (Wild Horse and
Burro) Act was established to protect,” said the complaint.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has stated that it was lacking
funds and adequate holding space. Government attorneys have asked the court to
dismiss the lawsuit for legal reasons, which plaintiffs have until with an
August 15 to respond.
The Elko County Commission pledged up to $10,000 to help
fund the legal action, which could equal up to $90,000 or more according to NACO
president Jeff Fontaine.
For more information on animal welfare, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
