RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge in Nevada is taking the government to task for misconduct by a helicopter contractor during one of the government’s biggest wild horse roundups in the West.
U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben denied a request from horse protection advocates late Tuesday to halt the roundup at the Triple B complex in northeast Nevada near the Utah line.
But he did issue a rare emergency order banning any mistreatment of mustangs like the Wild Horse Freedom Federation caught on camera earlier this month.
McKibben says if the helicopter skid didn’t actually strike horses — as the advocate claims — it clearly flew “dangerously or unreasonably close” to the animals in violation of federal law.
The roundup of nearly 1,300 horses began July 20. It’s scheduled to end this week.
