A wild horse advocate hopes the federal court will prevent the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from completing a previously contested mustang gather on grounds that the round-up is inhumane.

Originally, the BLM had planned to begin gathering approximately 1,726 animals collectively from the Triple B, Maverick-Medicine, and Antelope Valley Herd Management Areas (HMAs) and the Cherry Springs Wild Horse Territory, in Nevada on July 7. The agency said the gather is necessary to reduce herd populations so that forage and water resources at each HMA are sufficient to sustain the animals residing there.

The gather was postponed after a complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada claiming that the BLM failed to demonstrate that the animals threaten the thriving natural ecological balance of the ranges or that the mustangs are responsible for range areas that may exhibit some use-related impact.

On July 15, U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben declined to prevent the gather, and on July 19 the 9th District Circuit Court declined to grant an emergency injunction to block the round-up. As a result, the gather began on July 20. It is scheduled to be completed later this month