WYOMING — The Bureau of Land Management today issued a response to allegations that free roaming horses were gathered by the agency and sold to Bouvry Slaughterhouse in Canada. The allegations were made by the Cloud Foundation a wild horse advocacy group based in Colorado.

The group recently issued a press release, the beginning of which appears below,

On March 24, The Cloud Foundation received an anonymous tip that BLM had rounded up and removed 41 free-roaming horses from public lands in northern Wyoming.  Further investigation revealed that BLM conducted a helicopter roundup of the horses and turned them over to the Wyoming Livestock Board who sold the horses directly to the Canadian Bouvry Slaughterouse. The taxpayer-funded roundup was conducted with no notice of sale after the horses were impounded, giving no one the opportunity to step in and negotiate a deal to purchase any of the horses. Even Bighorn County Sheriff, Kenneth Blackburn, was surprised that he received no notification of the roundup, which was conducted in his jurisdiction. The horses were driven to Shelby, Montana, to the Bouvry-owned feedlot, the jumping off point to their Canadian slaughterhouse, the largest slaughterhouse in Canada.

[button link=”https://www.thecloudfoundation.org/news-events-and-media/press-releases/425-no-public-comment-period-no-transparency-no-opportunity-for-horse-rescue-organizations-to-save-horses-from-a-terrible-fate” size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Click here to read the full press release[/button]

In response the BLM issued the following today through their Wyoming Facebook Account

This is in response to the concerns about the recent horse gather on Wyoming public lands. On March 18 and 19, 2014, 41 unauthorized domestic horses were gathered from BLM public lands in northern Wyoming. The horses were not federally protected under the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act as they were not located in a Herd Management Area or a traditional Herd Area. They were domestic horses that had been in trespass on public lands for many years. The original owner was notified several years ago of the trespass and although he claimed the horses as his private property, he was unable to control them. In recent years, due to the reproduction of these domestic horses, increased development in the area, complaints from landowners and safety concerns, the horses were gathered and turned over to the State of Wyoming under the state’s estray laws. A Notice of Intent to Impound was signed on Feb. 18, 2014 and was published in local area newspapers and posted in local post offices. Local permittees, affected land owners and local law enforcement were also notified, by phone call, prior to the gather. This trespass impoundment was conducted like any other trespass or unauthorized use—the same process would be followed for cattle or sheep in trespass.

[button link=”https://www.facebook.com/BLMWyoming” size=”medium” target=”_blank”]Click here to read the response on the BLM Facebook page[/button]