Media Advisory
For questions or to schedule an interview please contact: Grace Kuhn, [email protected], 804-218-4252
Thursday: US District Court in SF to Hear Injunction Motion to Block Sale of California Wild Horses for Slaughter
San Francisco, CA (May 8, 2019) – An alliance of wild horse protection and animal welfare advocates will square off against the U.S. government on Thursday when the United States District Court for the Northern District of California hears oral arguments in a high-profile lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) over the sale of federally-protected wild horses in California for slaughter. The lawsuit, filed by the American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC), Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), and private citizen Carla Bowers, seeks a court order prohibiting the USFS from selling the horses, rounded up last year from the Modoc National Forest near Alturas, without limitation on slaughter.
The plaintiffs, represented by William Eubanks, partner at the Washington, DC-based public interest law firm of Meyer, Glitzenstein & Eubanks, maintain that the USFS plan to sell horses for slaughter violates federal law and California law prohibiting the sale/import/export of horses in California for slaughter for human consumption.
WHAT: Oral Arguments in Animal Legal Defense Fund, et al. v. USFS, et al.
WHEN: Thursday, May 9, 2019, at 10:00 AM
WHERE: Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, 19th Floor, Courtroom 11
PRESIDING: The Honorable Judge James Donato
The USFS plan to sell California wild horses for slaughter has drawn widespread public opposition and outrage. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, 23 California state legislators, and just this week, 64 members of the House of Representatives announced their objection to the plan.
In addition, the plan prompted Assemblymember Gloria to introduce legislation (AB 128) to improve protections for California horses from slaughter. As well, U.S. Representatives Dina Titus and Raul Grijalva have requested Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations language to extend to the Forest Service the same prohibitions on wild horse slaughter that Congress annually places on the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that manages the majority of federally-protected wild horses and burros in the U.S.
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The American Wild Horse Campaign (AWHC) is the nation’s leading wild horse protection organization, with more than 700,000 supporters and followers nationwide. AWHC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1979 to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. To accomplish this mission, the Animal Legal Defense Fund files high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm; provides free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are punished for their crimes; supports tough animal protection legislation and fights harmful legislation; and provides resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law. For more information, please visit aldf.org.
Meyer, Glitzenstein & Eubanks, LLP, is the nation’s leading public interest law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., and Ft. Collins, Colorado.
