New comments sought on revised Wyoming horse roundup plan

The U.S. government is taking new comments from the public on plans to round up more than 2,000 wild horses in central Wyoming.

In March, a federal judge in Cheyenne ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to re-evaluate the roundup. U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal told the BLM to consider how the roundup would affect wild horses with traits inherited from horses used by Spanish explorers and settlers.

The group Friends of Animals said the scale of the roundup required more analysis including how the roundup would affect the herd’s genetics. Freudenthal agreed.

A revised government analysis says the wild horses have traits of Spanish horses but also several other types and the Spanish traits don’t predominate.

The BLM is taking new comments on the roundup until June 5.