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A federal judge in Utah has refused to block a lawsuit filed by a group of ranchers demanding the U.S. government remove wild horses from land they say is overpopulated.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson ruled earlier this month that the ranchers can move forward with their claim that the Bureau of Land Management hasn't kept the number of mustangs under control in south-central Utah. Benson did not weigh in on the merits of the case.

The ranchers claim the horses are overrunning the range, causing ecological damage and reducing grazing for livestock. They want the BLM to immediately round up excess horses.

The government and wild horse advocates say the numbers are under control.

There are currently about 4,300 wild horses and burros in Utah, above the appropriate management level of 1,956, said Tom Gorey, a spokesman for the BLM in Utah. He declined to comment further because the case is pending.

Attorneys for the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign had asked Benson to dismiss the lawsuit. Its director, Suzanne Roy, said the group is confident it will prevail when the judge evaluates the merits of the case.

A federal judge tossed a similar lawsuit filed by a coalition of rural Nevada counties last month.

Karen Budd-Falen, lawyer for the ranchers, said the government will have to provide the ranchers with records of wild horse roundups and other control measures.

Budd-Falen said the lawsuit is different from the one in Nevada because the ranchers aren't asking for permission to tell the BLM exactly when to round up the horses — they just want to make sure the BLM does so.

The lawsuit deals with a large swath of land near Cedar City where a substantial portion of the state's wild horses live, according to Budd-Falon.

Another, similar wild horse lawsuit has been filed in Wyoming, Budd-Falen said.

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Associated Press writer Brady McCombs contributed to this report.