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Friday, February 24, 2012
Twin Peaks Mustangs in Court: IDA, Rachel Fazio Have Their Backs 
Today in Sacramento, California, wild horse advocates crowded one side of
Courtroom 7, United States District Court, presided over by Judge England.
The
lopsided crowd was the opposite of that at the attorneys’ tables. For the wild horses, Rachel Fazio, attorney for In Defense of Animals,
sat alone. Her four opponents, included representative of the Department of the
Interior and the Safari Club.
The verdict will be announced in the next 10 - 14 days.
This case examines whether BLM acted in accordance with the
1978 laws determining how wild horses must be gathered, before and during the
Twin Peaks round-up last year, near Susanville, CA. Many of those in the courtroom were present
for several days of the round-up.
This is the first time I’m seen Ms. Fazio in action, and she
was articulate, level-headed and unshakable.
My legal credentials, even as an observer, are limited, but
I took notes & will share some highlights.
Wild horse deaths were approximately 1% during the round-up. BLM said this was expected
The judge asked about a division of opinions
among experts. Ms. Fazio said that BLM “utterly failed to address” the information
that was submitted; BLM said they didn’t recognize the information as
relevant.
The studies submitted dealt with the negative effects
of PZP and gender skewing as means of limited wild horse populations.
Ms. Fazio put the BLM’s responsibilities in
perspective, by briefly reviewing the 1978 regulations which were intended to
reestablish rangeland health after decades of over-grazing by many species,
including livestock.
Judge England asked if IDA would accept “euthanasia
or re-programming” for wild horses and Ms. Fazio responded that would be acceptable
only after BLM acted on all of its responsibilities and made the information
available to the public ; at present, she said, it’s clear that BLM is
violating the law and its intent, and (based on BLM documents) plans to
continue doing so
BLM’s responsibility to identify and euthanize
sick, lame and old animals on the range before they are stampeded to the
traps was highlighted. BLM countered that this was unreasonable and they would
continue to do that in captivity.
Safari Club contends wild horses hinder
their right to “hunt and enjoy” wildlife and said “our colleagues, the
government” were right to disregard and minimize the studies submitted by IDA
Ms. Fazio thanked Judge England for following up
on this case. “After forty years of avoiding scrutiny” she said, BLM must face
questions and wild horses have their day in court. Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 7:34 PM  
Comments: One thing that struck me was the Safari Club complaining about advocates filing lawsuit after lawsuit. Actually not only inappropriate but Erik Ptersen the DOJ lawyer for BLM was in Judge McKibenn's court when the Judge told Mr. Cowan at Laura Leigh's last hearing that WE had to file each individual case for him to judge on. That he would nor rule on "the People" vs. BLM a once and for all kind of suit. And I know Erik saw me and he knows I heard that statement made. Bully for the BLM! Nicejob Terri thank you so much for being there when so many of us couldn't and thanks for the update as well. I appreciate you and so do the horses. Post a Comment |
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