An Important Update on the Palomino Valley Legal Action
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
A lead stallion who eluded capture but lost his band and died of a broken heart. Photo by Maureen Daane
We have difficult news to report. The U.S. District Court in Nevada has issued a negative ruling in our lawsuit against the Paiute Pyramid Lake Tribe, the Nevada Department of Agriculture and Cattoor Livestock Roundups. At issue is the illegal roundup of at least 300 horses in the Palomino Valley area northeast of Reno.
The judge ruled that the Tribe and the State have sovereign immunity from lawsuits and that NDA employees and tribal members acting as agents of those entities are also immune from suit. The judge did keep the Temporary Restraining Order issued on January 17 in place prohibiting the slaughter of a privately owned horse named Lady, who was caught up in the roundup, pending an evidentiary hearing to be scheduled within 14 days.
While this ruling is disappointing, it does not change the facts of this case or our commitment to seeking justice for the residents who were traumatized by the surprise raid that was conducted by members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and Cattoor Livestock Roundups on January 4 and 5, 2019, and for the horses who lost their freedom and their lives.
These include the grey stallion pictured above, admired in Palomino Valley for so many years, who somehow eluded capture but lost his band and wandered back to the land he called home, thin, alone and forlorn. Yesterday, he was found dead. The resident who found him, and knew his family, is convinced that he died of a broken heart.
Read more about this situation here.
We will keep you posted as this situation develops.
– The AWHC Team
This lawsuit will decide
The following is from the American Wild Horse Campaign:
On Monday, we’ll be in court to stand up for a group of both wild and privately owned horses who were wrongfully rounded up in Palomino Valley in Nevada. The hearing will determine whether the laws of the state are upheld and whether the horses can be saved, or if, heartbreakingly, they will go to slaughter.
Residents of Nevada’s Palomino Valley lost horses and burros during a multi-day roundup coordinated by members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe – who illegally stampeded horses with motorcycles, ATVs and on horseback off private property where they had been living for years.
Several privately owned horses and burros were taken in the process. Some were released and have wandered home, but Lady, a small bay mare who belongs to Sparks, NV resident Colleen Westlake, remains missing.
Photo above of “Lady”
Right now, we don’t know where Lady and the other horses are. We do know that 238 of them were sold to a notorious kill buyer in New Mexico. We’re holding out hope that they haven’t already been shipped across the border to Mexico for slaughter.
Our team is working with the residents whose private property rights were violated to hold the tribe and the Nevada Department of Agriculture accountable for this illegal surprise roundup.
Please, support our team as we go to court on Monday to stand up for Lady and the rest of the horses rounded up at Palomino Valley, and for all our critical work to save wild horses in Nevada and throughout the West.
Right now, we are the voice for these horses. We are their advocates, and their lawyers. Thank you for standing with them and with us.
Thanks,
Suzanne
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