Feral Horses Named as Plaintiffs in Lawsuit Over Embattled U.S. Island
A HORSE, OF COURSE
The horses, represented by the Georgia Equine Rescue League and Georgia Horse Council, say their habitat has not being properly managed—and that it's time for the animals to go.
A group of non-native feral horses on Cumberland Island, an island off Georgia’s southeast coast, have been named as plaintiffs in a case against the federal government and the National Park Service. The lawsuit alleges the habitat surrounding the animals on Cumberland Island's National Seashore has been gradually damaged by the equines and that they should therefore be moved off the land. In a filing last week, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Park Service officials are named as the defendants in the case, which was brought by the Georgia Equine Rescue League Ltd., the Georgia Horse Council Inc., Center for Biological Diversity Southeast Director Will Harlan, Cumberland Island resident Carol Ruckdeschel. Interestingly, even the horses of Cumberland Island are named. “The horses have standing to bring a suit in their own right,” the lawsuit claims, using an example of a former court ruling–Loggerhead Turtle v. Volusia County Council–that recognized wildlife as plaintiffs. “NPS and the State have inadequately managed and failed to remove the Island’s feral horses by knowingly ignoring the laws, policies, rules, and regulations put in place to protect the Cumberland Island National Seashore and its resources. Defendants’ failure to fulfill their collective obligations has inflicted serious harm to Cumberland’s horses, requiring their removal from the Island, and has permitted the horses, in the natural course of their existence, to inflict serious harm to the Island’s natural and wilderness resources.” The current number of horses on the island is estimated at between 140-170.
