Judge allows roundup of wild horses in California

A federal judge is allowing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to round up more than 2,000 wild horses in California's far northeastern corner, where the animals graze on high desert plains. An animal-rights group had sought a temporary restraining order to postpone the roundup, which is scheduled for next week. It plans to appeal Thursday's ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England Jr. in Sacramento. Wild horses roam 10 Western states. The BLM says the roundups are necessary because overpopulation, combined with drought, has withered rangeland. There are approximately 4,000 wild horses in California, according to Deniz Bolbol, spokeswoman for In Defense of Animals, who says roundup of the Twin Peaks herd would cut the state's population in half...more