Federal land managers, specifically the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), have faced significant legal challenges in their plan to remove approximately 3,600 free-roaming wild horses from 2.1 million acres of checkerboard-patterned public and private lands in southwest Wyoming. Although a Wyoming federal judge initially ruled the BLM’s whole-herd removal plan legal, the decision was appealed, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals later blocked the roundups, citing the BLM’s failure to demonstrate how the removals would maintain a “thriving natural ecological balance” as required by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The case has been sent back to the lower court for further review, but despite ongoing litigation and opposition from animal advocacy groups like Friends of Animals, the BLM plans to proceed with the removals starting in October 2025.
Animal welfare organizations are actively challenging the BLM’s actions, arguing that the agency’s plan prioritizes minimizing conflicts with private landowners over protecting wild horses and maintaining ecological balance. Friends of Animals has filed a lawsuit seeking to vacate the removal decision and may pursue emergency injunctions to halt the roundups. Other groups in a coalition, including the American Wild Horse Campaign and Western Watersheds Project, are closely monitoring the situation and considering further legal action. The controversy highlights the complex conflict between federal land management, private landowner interests, and wildlife protection mandates in the checkerboard region, where fencing and coexistence have proven difficult.
