AP 10.12.17
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – The U.S. government is halting a Wyoming wild horse roundup amid a legal dispute over whether it should count foals toward the roundup quota.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management agreed Tuesday to stop once it had rounded up 1,560 horses of all ages, a number the agency was on track to reach Wednesday.
The Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and two photographers have sued to contest the roundup. They say that by not counting rounded-up foals, the BLM was about to top its limit by some 300 horses. A judge will decide soon whether to allow the roundup to proceed.
BLM officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The BLM rounds up wild horses to keep them from overpopulating rangelands. Some are adopted by the public. Others go to sanctuaries.