Judge dismisses Nevada cattlemens’ challenge to wild horse management

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by ranchers who challenged federal land managers over what the cattlemen claimed was an overpopulation of wild horses in Nevada. Judge Miranda Du, sitting in the US District Court in Nevada, today granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Nevada Association of Counties and the Nevada Farm Bureau Federation that sought the removal of thousands of wild horses from the rangeland. The lawsuit asked the court to compel the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to immediately round up and remove thousands of wild horses from Nevada public lands, conduct wild horse and burro roundups every two months in the state, and to auction, sell or otherwise dispose of the 50,000 wild horses and burros currently held in government warehousing facilities. The successful motion to dismiss the case was brought by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) , author Terri Farley and photographer Mark Terrell. Judge Du granted the dismissal “with prejudice,” meaning the court action cannot be amended or refiled. She ordered the clerk to enter judgment in favor of the defendants in the case, which included the BLM and the wild horse advocates who had been granted permission to intervene in the case – the AWHPC, Farley, Terrell, and Wild Horse Education’s founder, Laura Leigh...more