By Laura Leigh, 

RENO, (WHE) – Wild Horse Education is continuing the legal battle for transparency against the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Because the public is continually denied consistent access to roundups and holding facilities that house the American public’s wild horses, taken from public land with public funds, this action is gaining increasing importance.

On February 14, 2011 Plaintiff Laura Leigh filed for permission to appeal her First Amendment Rights case against the BLM to the Ninth Circuit Court. Her plea was based on the fact that there had been no ruling by the Federal Court in Reno to her request for Emergency Injunctive Relief in a case she had filed five months previous. Her request cited that “no action” in a case requiring emergency relief was an essential denial of her motion.

Judge Larry Hicks of the Federal District Court in Reno has now denied Leigh’s motion as “moot.” However in his ruling he does allow written testimony to stand in the record that had been objected to by the BLM.

“Basically this is good news,” said Leigh “What the Judge has now given me is an opportunity to present this case without first going through the process of gaining the Court’s permission. He has also ruled that the entire record of the case remains intact and that is vital to demonstrate the repetitive behavior that has precedent in higher Courts as not moot.”

Leigh has spent the last year observing more roundups than any government personnel and bringing the public daily reports.

The suit she brought earlier in the year, to the same Court over closure of public land and a roundup during the heat of summer for the Owyhee Herd Management Area, bore fruit for

public observers. That suit found that closure of public land was a prior restraint to First Amendment Rights, creating the beginning of a daily observation platform for the public.

“The current suit is NOT about observing a single roundup,” Leigh stated “The emergency relief requested extends to the repetitive battle for observation. We have a right to know how our money is spent in the hands-on management of our horses throughout the process.

From roundup through holding and their ultimate disposition, wherever that may be, it is our right to see it.”

This winter horses from the Eagle Complex joined those named in Leigh’s suit from the Silver King Herd Management Area behind the locked doors of the BLM Indian Lakes (Broken Arrow) facility in Fallon Nevada.

Horses continue to die and suffer disease out of sight of public scrutiny. Horses in that facility continue to die at an alarming rate as indicated in the weekly reports.

Last spring the BLM closed the doors of the facility, which had previously offered weekly public tours, because of the intensity of public outrage. In an email from Dean Bolstad, of the Nevada state office in Reno to his superiors, dated May 25 of last year he writes: “The impact of stopping the tours pales in comparison to the impact to our employees and BLM’s image.”

Is this a reason to deny the public basic rights guaranteed in the Constitution? Or is this a reason to “clean up your act?”

The full Appeal is expected to be filed by Leigh and her attorney Gordon Cowan of Reno soon.

The legal efforts are supported solely by Wild Horse Education, a registered non-profit in the state of Nevada.

Website: http://WildHorseEducation.org

Free Book: http://wildhorseeducation101.wordpress.com/

Video of Eagle Roundup and denial of access to Indian Lakes (Broken Arrow): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw8iX7LO8g0

Article published by Deb Coffey on the Indian Lakes facility contract in PPJ gazette: http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/blm%E2%80%99s-sweet-deal-paid-for-with-your-tax-dollars-of-course/#more-16184

Leigh’s suit champions the public’s and her own right to reasonable access to observe all aspects of the government’s handling of the wild horses taken from the Silver King herd management area near Ely, Nevada. This lawsuit is based 100% on violations to First Amendment rights. It directly challenges, the Defendants’ unconstitutional prior restraints on the Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights by denying her reasonable access to wild horse roundups and related activities, to observe and report on all activities from capture, removal, processing, shipping, transportation, housing, and ultimate disposition of wild horses taken during the Silver King wild horse roundup operations (which the BLM euphemistically refers to as a “gather”).

Following hours of testimony November 16 when Judge Hicks heard Leigh’s evidence against the BLM and Dept. of Interior, the judge agreed to allow the parties to submit additional briefs including a supplemental brief from the plaintiff as an offer of proof of the testimony and other evidence the judge refused from evidence at the hearing.

Justice Department attorneys for the BLM argued that since the roundup had already occurred, the case was mooted. Leigh’s attorney, Gordon Cowan, argued, “[the mere cessation of illegal activity in response to pending litigation does not moot a case, unless the party alleging mootness can show that the ‘allegedly wrongful behavior could not reasonably be expected to recur.’” Much case law was cited where other courts upheld Cowan’s argument. One court concluded that, without such an exception to ‘mootness’ the courts would be compelled to leave the, “defendant … free to return to his old ways.”

Conduct by the BLM at the Twin Peaks roundup in Twin Peaks CA was cited. On August 24, 2010 a New York Times reporter and photographer were allowed directly into the horse capture trap during

the moment of wild horse captures. At that exact same time, Laura Leigh’s press credentials were not being recognized by the defendants’ officials there; and she was precluded from having access to the trap area and held back nearly a half-mile from the trap. On this same day, Laura Leigh was not allowed to walk on public land to a public road to photograph horses leaving the traps after they had been captured and loaded onto a trailer. When standing in the identical area where other members of the public were allowed to freely pass to and from their cars to the viewing area, Ms. Leigh was instructed to move and go back to the viewing area; that if she refused, it could elevate to the “next level,” which she was advised by defendants, meant she could be arrested. Many almost identical scenarios are repeated at previous and subsequent roundups attended by Laura Leigh and her press credentials from Horseback Magazine for whom she reports, are routinely denied.

Cowan’s brief also contends the complaint is not moot where it seeks Injunctive relief to gain immediate access to horses being warehoused in facilities closed to the public, and to have the public and press observe these horses not just during their capture, but at all stages of their journey through the BLM’s wild horse removal program.

Leigh was precluded from providing evidence that mootness didn’t apply. The judge would not allow evidence of the BLM’s conduct occurring elsewhere such as the closing to the public of the Indian Lakes horse holding facility. Prior to Indian Lakes’ closure (in June) public tours of the facility were given weekly. Leigh and colleagues photographed and videoed difficult images from these tours, including images of a foal nearly starved to death, an eight month old colt dying because his feet were damaged

from a recent roundup, horses with abscesses apparently suffering from pigeon fever, and other tough images. BLM’s Dean Bolstad, according to the brief, complained to Leigh over the barrage of emails he received from displeased citizens who viewed the published Indian Lakes images.

BLM’s Bolstad sent an email to superiors arguing that “Indian Lakes” should close to the public because of the, “damage that is being done to BLM’s image as a result of the tours.” This offensive email is attached to Leigh’s brief.  The brief also conveys that Bolstad at one point called Ms. Leigh a terrorist simply because she published her photos taken at Indian Lakes.

All subsequent requests to reopen the facility to the public have since been denied, according to Leigh’s court filing.

Since then no horses removed from Silver King who were taken to “Indian Lakes” facility were seen by the public since before their capture on the range. Even members of the public interested in adopting a Silver King horse from “Indian Lakes” would be denied access to view the horse. Horses are moved from “Indian Lakes” to long term holding and the public never has a chance to view them again.

On December 11, 2010 Leigh’s counsel filed a brief responsive to the Defendant’s brief that sought to strike or limit the testimony accepted in evidence at the November hearing. The defendants complained they were prejudiced when not notified that the hearing would be evidentiary in nature. The BLM also claimed to have experienced difficulty obtaining copies of Leigh’s filed witness list from the court’s electronic document management system. The defendants sought to have all testimony stricken.

Following a thorough brow-beating over the defendants’ contended “surprise” that evidence would be received at a scheduled hearing, Cowan added, “To claim surprise or prejudice because the defendants were not prepared for an evidentiary Rule 65 hearing, under these circumstances, is entertaining at best.”

The BLM added a new argument to their existing repertoire of “mootness,” now claiming the complaint was somehow “vague”. Cowan argued, “this new ‘vagueness’ argument seeks to steer the court astray into thinking the case should be embroiled in administrative proceedings or records which discuss challenges to the inhumanity of the defendants’ wild horse removal and warehousing process.”

Cowan in our estimation, “nailed it” when asserting the following:

Although the BLM and Interior Department’s Wild Horse and Burro removal and warehousing process is one of America’s greater embarrassing atrocities, this issue is not the focal point of the case. “Inhumanity” is, although ongoing with the BLM’s “management” of America’s wild horses, unfortunately, secondary. The case clearly seeks to challenge the defendants’ continuing removal of interested citizens (not horses) from observing the defendants’ handling of America’s wild horses, particularly those horses that entered the defendants’ process from Silver King.”

These horses (Silver King horses in this instance) are being handled, processed, and/or disposed of, or moved, or “lost,” or warehoused even as of this writing. The process doesn’t come to a halt just because the defendants completed their roundup. The process is ongoing. The roundup is only the beginning of the defendants’ process. In this instance the defendants’ process remains entirely secretive and hidden from the public’s eye. In this instance, Silver King horses entered the process at the front end, beginning with the roundup. They (Silver King horses) are still there, somewhere, within the process, within the Defendants’ wild horse handling system. There is not one document or notice from the defendants indicating that all handling of Silver King horses has been concluded.

Only the roundup stopped. No document or record of the defendants states or even implies that they (the defendants) have concluded all handling, processing and warehousing of Silver King horses.

These First Amendment violations occur and are repeated each

and every time Ms. Leigh or citizens are turned away, or refused access, or are kept back, or are denied appropriate observation, entrance or access to any portion of the defendants’ processes. The most outrageous part of it all, is that the defendants continue on the same secretive, private course as if citizens possessed no right at all to observe the government in action. This is shameful.”

Laura Leigh’s legal actions are supported by Grass Roots Horse, Inc.

an equine welfare and mustang advocacy group. The legal actions can be viewed at www.grassrootshorse.com  Field Reports on wild horse roundups and related information can be read at http://blog.grassrootshorse.com

RENO, (GRH) – On November 16, 2010, in a Reno, Nevada

courtroom packed with observers from as far away as New York, Federal District Judge Larry Hicks held a significant hearing in the lawsuit brought by journalist and wild horse advocate Laura Leigh against the Department of Interior and the BLM.

Leigh’s suit champions the public’s and her own right to reasonable access to observe all aspects of the government’s handling of the wild horses taken from the Silver King herd management area near Ely, Nevada. This lawsuit is based 100% on violations to First Amendment rights. It directly challenges, the Defendants’ unconstitutional prior restraints on the Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights by denying her reasonable access to wild horse roundups and related activities, to observe and report on all activities from capture, removal, processing, shipping, transportation, housing, and ultimate disposition of wild horses taken during the Silver King wild horse roundup operations (which the BLM euphemistically refers to as “gathers”). Laura Leigh, is a journalist and videographer whose work on wild horse issues has garnered her international attention. It is widely speculated that the video character in an animated video titled “Wild Horse Advocate Meets BLM Security in the Desert” is based on Laura Leigh and the video is gaining in notoriety.   

Judge Hicks opened the hearing with his initial impression that the matter became “mooted” when the Silver King roundup ended. Leigh’s counsel, Nevada attorney, Gordon Cowan disagreed.

He conveyed there remains ongoing offensive conduct, subject to injunctive relief. The offensive conduct includes the repeated denial of public access to those facilities where captured Silver King horses remain “warehoused” and that the lawsuit seeks scrutiny of the BLM’s handling of Silver King horses from the moment of their capture to the horses’ ultimate disposition or demise. Also, because the public and Leigh had been precluded time and time again from observing wild horses at roundups, Leigh’s counsel argued that history demonstrates the same conduct would likely be repeated, which negates “mootness,” at least according to the precedential cases provided in the briefs.

Judge Hicks conveyed he would preclude evidence on any issue but the public’s and Ms. Leigh’s “access” at Silver King. He would allow evidence on disparate treatment of Leigh at Silver King. Judge Hicks would refuse evidence comparing what transpired at past roundups, to what occurred at Silver King, even where such evidence would counter the “mootness” issue.

In a little more than five hours, several witnesses testified on behalf of Plaintiff, Laura Leigh including Deniz Bolbol, Elizabeth Slagsvol, Debbie Coffey. Ms. Leigh also testified. The testimony outlined instances of Ms. Leigh being “dogged” and restricted at every turn, more so than other members of the public and press.

Visual access to the capturing of wild horses, according to all witnesses, was nonexistent. The only witness who testified otherwise was BLM’s employee, Chris Hanefeld. 

One witness equated the BLM’s tight restrictions to something akin to North Korean rule rather than an event occurring in America. Another witness testified that she had flown from the East coast and had driven hours by car, with expectations that on a scheduled public observation day, she would be allowed to observe Silver King wild horses captured. She cut short her trip after having been denied observing even one horse captured and finding the BLM’s restrictions on the public, to be arbitrary and burdensome. One witness recalled leaving the boundaries of where the public was to remain, only to stumble on the BLM cleaning up a tragedy where a captured stallion had broken its neck due to the BLM’s dangerous method of loading horses into chutes. Ms. Leigh described, in detail, several incidents where she was held back from viewing the wild horse roundups, more so than others.

The government was unprepared to offer witnesses. According to reports of observers in the gallery, the judge warned the defendants that they would not get another opportunity to cross examine the witnesses because they are out of jurisdiction and this would be the defense’s only opportunity to do so. They chose to not cross-examine the majority of the plaintiff’s witnesses with the exception of   Deniz Bolbol and Mr. Chris Hanefeld, who is an employee of the BLM. “I thought it was ironic or nonsensical that the public observer witnesses were able to recount clear details of the Round-Up days they were allowed to attend but the BLM employee whose job it is to facilitate the Public observation had difficulty recalling most of the events he was questioned on even when he was relegated to reviewing his pages of notes taken during the round ups” said Dallas Gulley, who attended the hearing.  “It was almost farcical when he was asked about one specific event that would seem to be atypical at such Public days which was when a Law Enforcement vehicle suddenly arrived on the scene with Lights flashing.  You would think that something of that nature, that occurred just over a month ago and should be out of the norm would not require a BLM Public Relations employee to refer to their notes and still not be able to definitively recall the event.” 

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Hicks expressed his impression that the matter remained mooted, although he agreed to allow the Plaintiff to file a brief outlining what other evidence would have shown

had the adverse ruling not been in place. The “adverse ruling” refers to the judge’s prior preclusion of the plaintiff submitting evidence of comparisons on “access” at other roundups, evidence of holding facilities elsewhere, evidence of discriminatory access to Laura elsewhere, although submission of evidence of discriminatory access at Silver King was allowed.

The brief Judge Hicks has agreed to allow the plaintiff to file would address what the “precluded” evidence would have shown.

Both parties simultaneously exchange briefs 15 days following the hearing. The defense brief is to address their contention that plaintiff submitted “new evidence” after they opposed plaintiff’s initial motions.   

“Laura Leigh and those who testified on her behalf are the real stars here. They kept their chins up while enduring arbitrary rules and intimidating tactics employed to hide the BLM’s handling of these horses. I thought their stories were compelling,” Leigh’s counsel, Gordon Cowan, conveyed.

The legal actions are supported by Grass Roots Horse, Inc.

a non-profit equine welfare and mustang advocacy group.

Contact: Info@grassrootshorse.com

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – A Reno federal judge listened patiently to five witnesses, including a stumbling government PR spokesman, during a 4.5 hour hearing Tuesday. The he aring w

as on a motions brought by plaintiff Laura Leigh and her lawyer Gordon Cowan. Leigh is a journalist and photographer who says the BLM has systematically excluded her from observing roundups it terms “gathers” in which horses are stampeded by helicopter over miles of rocky ground in inclement conditions. Often horses die at the end of the chase. Leigh claims the government systematically violates her First Amendment Rights as a journalist to practice her craft while allowing others such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and a Reno newspaper to have close contact with the wild horses she is attempting to observe.

Leigh is credentialed to Horseback Magazine.

A courtroom observer told Horseback that the government came to the hearing believing they were merely arguing a motion, not bringing witnesses of their own.

They were not prepared to cross examine witnesses brought to the hearing by Cowan and Leigh. Those witnesses put a wealth of information into the court record which government lawyers couldn’t refute.

Hicks gave the lawyers 15 days to prepare more briefs.

If Hicks rules against the plaintiff the case may go to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Tucked away in court documents relating to a lawsuit filed by journalist and artist Laura Leigh is a telling photograph by Western Watershed Biodiversity Director, Katie Fite. The photo is of a peaceful desert scene.

The photo shows a river about 60 feet wide with abundant still and white water. It also shows horses on a gently sloping trail advancing to the riparian banks for a drink. The horses clearly know where the life giving water is located as they walk single file to it. Other photos show more horses heading toward a trail leading to the river‘s flat beaches. It is a place where campers might spend the night and fish.

In a Horseback Magazine interview Tuesday, BLM chase contractor Sue Cattoor said the trail was one of several that lead to the river.

The government contractor said this trail was the only one the horses use. Cattoor also said it is steep.

The photos tell a different story.

The picture is of Nevada’s Owyhee River on the border of a the Tuscarora federal Bureau of Land Management “gather” area – an area where government lawyers told a federal judge horses would die of thirst if an emergency roundup didn’t take place immediately.

The judge lifted his previous temporary restraining order which had stopped the mid-summer roundup for humanitarian reasons.

The lawyers clearly mislead the judge.

The horses had been kept by BLM in drought condition on three pastures miles away from the river while they awaited capture as the waters flowed freely within driving distance. Leigh says the horses were likely driven there for holding to await their “gather.”

After the TRO was lifted, BLM wasted no time in capturing the horses. They were stampeded by helicopter into traps on private land and hidden from press and public by armed guards.

After the first day, 12 horses died immediately following being run eight miles in searing mid-summer heat. Nine more would die after subsequent stampedes.

Two were found by contractor Dave Cattoor and a BLM official suffering from terrible injuries . They were shot on site from a roaring helicopter.

But the BLM has another version of the story which the agency published today in an online press release.

Horseback Magazine consulted former veterinary columnist Dr. Angela Chenault to assess the severe injuries of a Palomino mare in a photo supplied to the magazine by Sue Cattoor prior to publishing the Tuesday’s story. She said the injuries were at least 24 hours old, and maybe older than that.

A foal in the same area had broken legs and was dispatched as well. There is no way at this point of determining whether the two horses were a young horse and its mother.

The BLM press release reads:

A news article published today provided inaccurate information alleging that a dead horse observed on the range had been “driven” to its death during gather operations.

The BLM is addressing this report here because it was not based on any first-hand knowledge of the events, and was founded instead on speculation that provides an inaccurate record.

The facts surrounding the mortality addressed in the news article are that on July 11, when there were no gather operations taking place, the contractor and the BLM Nevada Chief Ranger found a severely injured mare and a young foal with broken front legs on the side of a steep canyon wall. Both animals were humanely euthanized and their remains left on-site. The BLM did not “drive” horses to their death in the rocks – as speculated in the news article, given that these wild horses were more than five miles from the area gathered on July 10, and no gathers occurred on July 11.

BLM did not report these two deaths as part of its daily mortality log, because that log documents mortalities for wild horses that are gathered. The BLM was not conducting operations to gather this horse or any excess wild horses within this area either prior to or at the time when these horses were found, therefore the two wild horse deaths were not associated with gather operations.

BLM Nevada is examining its reporting methods to better document all wild horse deaths that occur or are found during gather.

By Steven Long

HOUSTON, (Horseback) – When Laura Leigh, an author, artist, journalist, and litigant chased the BLM into the desert to observe wild horse capture after a federal judge told her she could do so, she wasn’t allowed to see horses – but she did see water.

Judge Larry Hicks lifted his temporary injunction and permitted the federal Bureau of Land Management to capture horses in the fierce July desert heat of Nevada.

As in previous death chases, the result was predictable. Horses dropped after being relentlessly stampeded by a roaring helicopter owned by BLM contractor, Cattoor Livestock Roundups out of Nephi, Utah. The federal agency had lied to the judge, telling him that death by thirst was imminent if they weren’t removed.

Thus far, 21 horses and foals have died after the latest high summer stampedes.

Hicks granted the plaintiff, Leigh, a first amendment stake in the chase. He told her it was unconstitutional for the BLM to ban her from observing the horses. In reply, the agency pulled off a cowboy hat trick of sorts in the desert.

They moved the trap, the pen where the wild animals were to be driven, onto private land in a mountain canyon out of sight and then told the sheriff’s cops to arrest trespassers, including the litigant who had just won the right to see what BLM was doing in their “gather” first hand.

While Leigh didn’t get to see the objects of the BLM chase, North American Mustangs, she spotted something equally important and precious in the desert – water at the fenced off Desert Ranch Reservoir.

“While the reservoir is located on BLM public land, the water in the reservoir is privately owned (i.e., the private owner holds the water rights in accordance with State of Nevada water law),” said BLM’s Washington spokesman, Tom Gorey. “The reservoir is mostly fenced, but the fences are constructed in a manner that allows wild horses access to the privately owned water in at least three locations. As a result, wild horses are able to move freely to and from the water using the large gaps in the fencing.  In short, access to the reservoir water by wild horses is not blocked.”

If access to the water hole was open in three places, Leigh had caught the BLM lying to a federal judge.

“Desert Ranch Reservoir on public land is less than 5 miles from the trap site,” Leigh told Horseback Magazine late Monday. “BLM has the authority to utilize resources on private property to deal with emergencies. (BLM Director Bob) Abbey declared this issue in Owyhee an emergency.”

Gorey acknowledged late Tuesday that there is water available to the horses that are being stampeded by the BLM contractor.

“In general, water within the Owyhee Herd Management Area (HMA) is provided primarily by unfenced public land reservoirs (water catchments),” he said. “There is also one spring, called Bookkeeper Spring, which is located on unfenced private land within the HMA.  This spring is normally adequate to water a small number of wild horses, but because of drought conditions, there is very little water available for use this year.”

Claiming extreme drought conditions, the BLM has delivered more than 30,000 gallons of water to

the horses in the Owyhee HMA since Monday.

By admitting that water on public land is privately owned, Gorey raised a significant issue. What was the federal government thinking when it privatized an asset as precious as desert water, selling it out of government control? Moreover, when was it sold, for how much, and to whom

?

“My assumption is that the BLM has never held the right to this water,” Gorey said.

It the government doesn’t own the water on federal land, who owns it?

Gorey has promised to research the ownership issue of water BLM lawyers claimed was nonexistent, so scarce, the deaths of hundreds of otherwise healthy horses and foals was imminent.

“Why did the BLM choose to press a stressed population through the round up instead of stabilizing the situation and waiting?” Leigh asked. “The claims made in the report given to a federal judge outline a population so fragile that BLM projected would be dead in three days (if the agency was not allowed to round them up.)”

Leigh has filed briefs charging the BLM with contempt of court.

Documents Filed by Laura Leigh

http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/07.19.10_Motion_for_Contempt-Relief.pdf

http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/07.19.10_Declaration_for_Motion.pdf

http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/07.19.10_Exhibit_A-DOI_letter.pdf 

CHICAGO, – Despite Judge Hick’s order on Friday, July 16, equine advocate, Laura Leigh, was denied access to the trap site for the Owyhee round up, one of three herd areas comprising the Tuscarora round-up. When questioned, the authorities responded that she was not on the list.

Reno federal Judge Larry Hicks entered an order stating; “As to Leigh’s First Amendment challenge to the closure of public lands during the ga

and the BLM’s management of the gather. The court agrees [and]… finds that the blanket closure … is unconstitutional“. The BLM can, however, draft a “more reasonable closure“.

“The court’s order in no way [a]ffects the BLM’s closure of the airspace above the 27,000 acres of public land. The court finds the closure of airspace to be constitutional and necessary.”

Ms. Leigh also noted and photographed water holes that are fenced off by livestock ranchers, denying access to the horses. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) claims the horses are being removed because of lack of water. Only horses are being removed and not other wildlife or livestock.

This is not the first time the BLM has ignored a judge or the intent of the law of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act. As reported by American Herds, the BLM is moving forward with a round-up despite federal judge, Rosemary Collyer’s ruling that the BLM overstepped their authority by issuing a zero number of horses as the management level for the West Douglas herd in Colorado. During the Calico law suit, Judge Friedman indicated that holding horses off the range is likely illegal. The BLM moved forward with the Calico round-up that resulted in over 150 deaths and over 1,800 horses that have lost their freedom on the ranges granted to them by law.

Wildlife ecologists and researchers estimate there are at best, 20,000 horses that remain free roaming. Advocates continue to ask if the ranges cannot sustain 20,000 horses how they can sustain millions of privately owned livestock.

A complaint was recently filed by The Center for Biological Diversity and several other groups asking that the tax payer subsidized livestock be removed from public lands. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports have shown the damage to our public lands is a result of over grazing of livestock, not horses.

Laura Leigh possesses press credentials for Horseback Magazine and is also representing Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA), Grass Roots Horse, Herd Watch, a Cloud Foundation program and author RT Fitch that provides a daily blog of wild horse and burro information and information on efforts to end the slaughter of American horses.

Field updates are being communicated through RT Fitch and EWA.

HOUSTON – (SFTHH) – This evening we received a phone call from artist and wild horse advocate Laura Leigh that she  had not been allowed to travel to a Federal Bureau of Land Management trap site after a federal judge threw open the gates to the press and public for future “gathers.”

Leigh was a plaintiff in a lawsuit which resulted in a temporary injunction halting a BLM roundup

in which 12 horses died of heat stroke after being driven miles during a stampede driven by a roaring helicopter. 

 Her progress had been impeded by the local sheriff’s Department, saying her name, despite Judge  Larry Hicks’ order that denying access to press and public was unconstitutional, did not appear on the BLM’s approved  listing of media and public permitted to watch it’s Tuscacora roundup. Barring Leigh was in direct violation to the federal judge’s ruling.

Reporting from a distance away from the trap site, Leigh reported trucks coming from the  site with trailers full of horses.  Local contacts have estimated that approximately 150 horses have been captured since the judge lifted the injunction. Thus far, no deaths have been reported.

During a winter “gather” in the Calico Mounta

ins, 150 horses and foals died after being stampeded for miles over rocky terrain in the dead of winter. Hicks lifted his unjunction against the July roundup after being persuaded by government lawyers that the horses were in imminent danger of dying

of thirst.

However, Leigh said that she and others have seen water holes  on public land, are fenced off from the wild horse’s access in direct conflict to what the BLM stated in court earlier last week.

Leigh said she will be  back at the trap site tomorrow morning attempting to gain access.