A U.S. District Court judge in Nevada has declined to grant a wild horse advocate's second request for a temporary restraining order designed to prevent the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from gathering horses from the Rock Creek and Little Humboldt Horse Management Areas in northwestern Elko County.

The BLM began removing excess animals from the Owyhee, Rock Creek, and Little Humboldt Herd Management Areas on July 10. But agency officials halted the gather July 11 after four of the removed mustangs died from dehydration and related complications. Another three horses later died from the same condition. Another animal was euthanized after fracturing its leg shortly after being placed in a temporary holding corral.

On July 12 attorney Gordon Cowan filed a motion for a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nev., on behalf of Laura Leigh, an artist and wild horse advocate. The motion alleged that the gather violates BLM regulations that prohibit such gathers between March 1 and June 30, the foaling period for most wild herds.

On July 14, U.S. District Court Judge Larry R. Hicks imposed a temporary restraining order halting the Owyhee gather until arguments in the case could be heard. Hicks rescinded that order July 16 ruling that the gather was necessary to prevent horses from death due to lack of water on those ranges. That gather was completed on July 20