LAS VEGAS – De Castroverde Law Group (DLG) has filed a lawsuit to stop the ongoing helicopter roundup of wild horses by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the Pancake Complex in central Nevada.
The Pancake Complex roundup is targeting 2,030 wild horses for capture in a herd management area exceeding 1.1 million acres. According to the animal welfare groups being represented by the local law firm, BLM’s roundup has already resulted in the deaths of at least 10 wild horses, including a young foal who was relentlessly chased by a BLM helicopter contractor after it snapped and broke its leg.
Daniella Holt of DLG is the local attorney of record handling the case on a pro-bono basis. She and attorneys Jessica Blome and Alexandra Monson are representing nonprofit organizations Animal Wellness Action, CANA Foundation and Wild Horse Education, along with its founder and president, Laura Leigh.
In a lawsuit filed Jan. 21 in U.S. District Court, the animal welfare groups allege the BLM has violated the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Administrative Procedure Act, and its own regulations by not conducting a Herd Management Area Plan before any horses are removed from Nevada ranges. According to the lawsuit, BLM has consistently ignored this legal mandate in its ongoing effort to rid America’s open ranges of wild horses across the country.
Holt said the case also puts a spotlight on problems arising from the BLM’s campaign of mass roundups that has resulted in hundreds of deaths and the placement of tens of thousands of federally protected horses and burros in barren BLM holding facilities – all at enormous expense to American taxpayers. It also seeks to force the agency to allow meaningful public observation of the roundup operations and access to the holding facilities where the animals are incarcerated after being removed from their rangeland home.
A recurring theme in the helicopter roundups over the past year has been the efforts by the BLM to prevent public observers from watching all aspects of its operations. It has been common for the agency to position observers up to two miles from the traps where the horses are captured, and to hide the traps behind hills and ridges. Once consigned to long-term holding facilities, most of which are on private property, the lawsuit claims that many of the horses will never be seen again, and the concerned public may never know their fate. Many of the wild horses and burros end up in kill pens and slaughter auctions through the BLM sales and Adoption Incentive Program (AIP), which is routinely exploited by unscrupulous kill-buyers and their collaborators. The “kill” buyers then ship the horses to Canada or Mexico for meat slaughter.
About De Castroverde Law Group
Brothers Alex and Orlando De Castroverde founded the law firm in 2005, building on the practice established by their father, Waldo De Castroverde. De Castroverde Law Group practices in the areas of personal injury, criminal defense, and immigration law. With more than five decades of combined legal experience, De Castroverde Law Group provides aggressive, dependable legal representation. The firm has two offices in Las Vegas, one in Henderson, one in Reno and one in Oakland, California. A majority of the firm’s attorneys are fluent in Spanish. For more information on De Castroverde Law Group, call (702) 222-9999 or visit www.dlgteam.com.
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