TERROR IN PLAIN SIGHT: U.S. federal agency accused of blocking public’s view of massive wild horse roundup
BLM federal agency is blocking meaningful observation of the massive Wyoming wild horse roundup and its treatment of federally protected wild mustangs. Animal advocates are demanding that the public observation be located in an area that affords a full view of the helicopter’s chase of the horses into the trap. The goal of the roundup is to clear the land of wild horses to maximize commercial livestock grazing, which taxpayers also subsidize to the tune of as much as $500 million annually.
AWHC: The American Wild Horse Campaign is demanding that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) immediately correct restrictions to public viewing of the largest federal wild horse roundup in history underway now in Wyoming. In a letter sent today, AWHC alleged that the BLM is locating public observers in an area and at a distance that obscures the view of the capture operation and violates the public’s First Amendment right to observe this federal operation…
“BLM Wyoming is blocking meaningful observation of the massive Wyoming wild horse roundup by placing the public over a mile away from the capture site and in positions where viewing is blocked by terrain,” said Brieanah Scwhartz, AWHC Litigation and Policy Counsel who sent the letter to the BLM. “Such unnecessary restrictions violate our First Amendment rights to meaningfully observe this government operation and the BLM’s treatment of these federally protected wild mustangs”…
The group is demanding that the public observation area be located in an area that affords the public a full view of the helicopter’s chase of the horses into the trap. AWHC is also urging the BLM to require all helicopter roundup contractors to install cameras on their aircraft to create public transparency and independent oversight for the 90 percent of the capture stampede that occurs out of public view…
The AWHC has field representatives on the ground to document roundups occurring in the West. The group is concerned that the crackdown on public observation in Wyoming is related to controversy over the helicopter contractor’s conduct of recent roundups in Nevada and Colorado, including foals (horses under the age of 1) being left on the range alone after their mothers were captured…
The Wyoming roundup is currently taking place in the Great Divide Basin Herd Management Area on public and private land northwest of Rock Springs. It’s part of a massive capture operation of more than 4,000 federally-protected wild horses from a 3.4 million acre land area known as the “Wyoming Checkerboard” and is expected to continue into February.
To date, 476 wild horses have been captured from their expansive natural habitat and trucked to holding facilities in Rock Springs and Wheatland, where they are confined to feedlot-style pens that provide just 700 square feet of space per horse…
The roundup will slash the size of the iconic wild horse population in this area to a density of one horse per 2,217 acres and is expected to cost taxpayers as much as $170 million over the lives of the captured horses. The intent is to clear the land of wild horses to maximize commercial livestock grazing, which taxpayers also subsidize to the tune of as much as $500 million annually…
“BLM Wyoming is blocking meaningful observation of the massive Wyoming wild horse roundup by placing the public over a mile away from the capture site and in positions where viewing is blocked by terrain,” said Brieanah Scwhartz, AWHC Litigation and Policy Counsel who sent the letter to the BLM. “Such unnecessary restrictions violate our First Amendment rights to meaningfully observe this government operation and the BLM’s treatment of these federally protected wild mustangs.”
Since the start of operations on October 7, the group’s representatives have been placed over a mile from the trap site in positions where viewing is further blocked by terrain and prevented from viewing the wild horses nearing or entering the trap. SOURCE…
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