A federal court judge has denied wild horse advocates' motion for an injunction to prevent a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) mustang gather in Colorado.

The BLM began gathering wild horses that had moved outside of the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area, southwest of Meeker, on Oct. 11. BLM public affairs specialist David Boyd said the gather was necessary to maintain a healthy wild horse herd that is in balance with other resources and land uses.

In a suit filed in federal court on Oct. 7, Habitat for Horses (a Texas-based equine welfare agency), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Cloud Foundation, Toni Moore, and Dr. Don Moore asked the court to stop the BLM from removing any of the horses pending a complete judicial review of the BLM’s conduct. The suit also alleges that the BLM wild horse management policies violate the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Information Quality Act, and the Federal Land Policy Management Act.

On Oct. 21, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Pauley, III, of the Eastern District of New York, declined to grant the injunction on multiple grounds including that the BLM is obligated to manage public lands "not solely to maintain the vitality of wild horse populations