Our May 9th hearing in federal court took a positive turn in our ongoing fight to stop horses from the Devil’s Garden wild horse herd in California’s Modoc National Forest from being shipped to slaughter, and to stop the U.S. Forest Service from taking the unprecedented step of selling captured wild horses without limitations.
A federal judge ordered the two litigating groups of advocates to try reaching a settlement with the Forest Service over their plan to sell without limitations wild horses captured in a roundup last fall from the Devil’s Garden Wild Horse Territory.
In the interim, a stipulated prohibition remains in place which prevents the Forest Service from selling the remaining wild horses without restrictions.
U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered the parties to report back to him in 30 days after what he called a “breakthrough moment” during the hearing after the Forest Service’s attorney (R. Turner) said more than once that “the Forest Service will never intentionally sell its horses for slaughter for human consumption.”
Bruce Wagman, attorney for Front Range Equine Rescue et. al., stated that, “The Forest Service’s agreement at the hearing that it will not sell wild horses to slaughter validates both the legal claims we are making and the public’s rejection of any suggestion that wild horses will be sold without limitations. If the Forest Service is good to its word, we will have prevailed in this litigation. If it is not, we will keep up the fight.”