Land Agency’s Wild Horse Population Management Plan Upheld

The Bureau of Land Management’s decision to geld and release male horses, instead of permanently removing them as a form of population control in Nevada, wasn’t arbitrary or capricious, the Ninth Circuit said Thursday.

BLM developed its Gather Plan in 2017 in response to an overpopulation of wild horses in northeastern Nevada. The area has an excess population of about 8,600 wild horses, according to the agency. Under the plan, horses would be removed and fertility-control treatments would be administered over a 10-year period.

American Wild Horse Campaign and wild horse photographer Kimerlee Curyl sued the agency, saying it failed ...