Advocates for wild horses sought to halt the study or, at the very least, allow the media and the public to observe and record it. The BLM wanted to study three methods to determine whether they are safe, effective options for controlling the wild horse population. The Cloud Foundation and American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign filed a lawsuit last month seeking the presence of outside observers. "The Bureau of Land Management is obligated to protect wild horses under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and has absolutely no authority whatsoever to experiment on wild horses with new and risky surgeries," said Jennifer Best, assistant director of Friends of Animals' wildlife law program. "Congress has expressly prohibited the use of funds for activities that would kill wild horses as this experiment may have done."

Source: ABC News September 09, 2016 22:00 UTC