RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge has refused to grant an emergency injunction to halt a government roundup of about 1,700 wild horses from the range in eastern Nevada.
U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben’s ruling late Friday afternoon allows the federal Bureau of Land Management to begin removing the mustangs Saturday from public lands near the Utah line.
McKibben disagreed with the Colorado-based horse advocacy group Cloud Foundation, which contended the gather would violate federal law because the BLM failed to prove the herds are overpopulated and causing ecological harm to public rangeland.
Cloud Foundation lawyer Rachel Fazio says she was disappointed by the ruling and plans to file an emergency motion asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the request for an emergency injunction as soon as possible.
