The U.S. Forest Service cannot simply cut 23,000 acres out of a wild-horse and burro sanctuary in California’s Modoc National Forest on the basis that it made a mistake in mapping the boundary some 30 years ago, a federal appeals court held on Friday.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with wild-horse advocate Carla Bowers and two related groups, Return to Freedom and American Wild Horse Campaign of Lompoc, California, who said the Forest Service’s 2013 action was arbitrary and capricious.

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Originally posted by Reuters