Judge Takes BLM To Task Over Mustangs

A federal judge in Nevada is taking the government to task for misconduct by a helicopter contractor during one of the government’s biggest wild horse roundups in the West.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben denied a request from horse protection advocates late Tuesday to halt the roundup at the Triple B complex in northeast Nevada near the Utah line.

But he did issue a rare emergency order banning any mistreatment of mustangs like the Wild Horse Freedom Federation caught on camera earlier this month.

McKibben says if the helicopter skid didn’t actually strike horses – as the advocate claims – it clearly flew “dangerously or unreasonably close” to the animals in violation of federal law.

The roundup of nearly 1,300 horses began July 20. It’s scheduled to end this week.