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| source: EIS |
They shoot wild horses don't they? The government also feeds wild horses pesticide as a form of birth control. Wild horse advocates in Nevada won an injunction to stop the Bureau of Land Management from rounding-up 330 members of the famous "The Misfits" herd featured in the Gable-Monroe movie. Federal district judge Larry Hicks ruled that the Bureau could not rely on a five-year-old environmental impact statement that ignores allegations the herd would be harmed by administering Porcine Zona Pellucida, PZP, to sixty-six mares. The round-up in the Pine Nut Mountains was to begin February 20th. The preliminary injunction gives the court time to consider the advocate's claims concerning the pesticide.
The Bureau alleges that increases in herd size is damaging the fragile desert mountain habitat and endagering the wild horse herd. The court recognized the intertwined problems of drought conditions and overgrazing but the scope of the gathering exceeds what was proposed in 2010. BLM says there are twice as many horses in the Pine Nut Range as the high desert can support. In some situations the US government classifies wild horses as
pests. Advocates say the wild horses belong on the West's open ranges and should not be managed as if they were living in an open-air zoo.