Wild Horse Round-Up Issues To Be Settled In Federal Court

The Bureau of Land Management is trying to proceed with a round up plan for hundreds of wild stallions from the southwestern part of the state. The plan would include the castration of several hundred horses from the White Mountain and Little Colorado herd management areas. There has been much debate of the BLM's plan and two environmental groups recently filed a federal lawsuit in hopes that a judge in Washington D.C. might halt the plan from proceeding. The lawsuit was filed on Monday by the Western Watersheds Project and American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

The BLM is planning to round up approximately 900 wild horses from the herd management area near Rock Springs and La Barge next month. The agency would castrate all stallions captured then release 177 of them back into the range as geldings.

It's estimated that around 1,000 wild horses live in the White Mountain and Little Colorado herd management area. The BLM states that there should be no more than 400 in the area.