Posted on 08/04/2015 7:19:42 AM PDT by originalbuckeye
If you're lucky enough, you'll catch a glimpse of them while traveling along the Salt River or visiting Saguaro Lake. The Salt River wild horses offer visitors an awe inspiring view, one that's in danger of being erased.
The beloved Salt River wild horses are being removed from the place they have called home for decades and may even face death, according to a notice from the Tonto National Forest.
The forest service says it will begin removal of the more than 100 horses on Aug. 7, stating they are "unauthorized livestock" and therefore cannot be there.
The removal will continue for an entire year, so as horses migrate to forest service land from nearby reservations, they will be removed.
"This may be the last footage we're ever going to get," said Simone Netherlands, president of the Salt River Wild Horses Management Group.
Netherlands and other volunteers have tracked and researched the herd of horses for years, on Monday a group of 10 to 15 were hanging around Saguaro Lake.
"This is an absolutely inhumane thing that our government is planning," Netherlands said.
This week the group was devastated to learn the Forest Service was planning to round up the herd for removal.
The horses were never given a wild horse territory and therefore aren't protected by federal law. The U.S. Forest Service also isn't allowed to manage them so the animals are considered unauthorized livestock.
According to a public notice issued this week, if the horses aren't claimed by their owners, who will need to provide proof of ownership, by August 7, they can be captured, auctioned off and even disposed of.
"They're going to kill them, that's what disposed of means," Netherlands said.
The full notice from the forest service states:
"Any unauthorized horses. May be impounded by the United States Forest Service on or after 8/07/2015, unless said livestock is permanently removed from the above described lands.
"After the impoundment, owners of unauthorized livestock may regain possession thereof only by first showing proof of ownership and reimbursing the United States in full for the expense incurred in impounding, feeding, and caring of such livestock, or if impoundment costs exceed fair market value, by a payment equal to the fair market value of the impounded livestock. All impounded animals not redeemed withing 5 days after notice of sale of impounded livestock has been published in a local newspaper, posted in the county court house and in one or more local post offices, will be offered for sale at public auction.
"Livestock not sold at public sale may be sold at private sale or condemned and destroyed, or otherwise disposed of as provided by Regulations 36 CFR 262.10(f)."
The forest service says the horses appear on lands within the boundaries of the Mesa Ranger District in the Tonto National Forest but it is unclear where the horses originated from. It's been an issue of debate - supporters say the horses have been in the forest and on the land for hundreds of years, but the forest service says the animals have wandered from nearby properties.
A representative from the Tonto National Forest Service told 12 News the agency isn't authorized to manage the horses and removing them is for public safety. The spokesperson cited highway accidents involving horses and also said because the animals are known to frequent a popular recreation area, they fear visitors will end up getting hurt. So far, no injuries have been reported.
The representative went on to say the last thing anyone at the Forest Service wants is for the horse to end up in a situations where they could be killed.
They added that while the public notice listed this Friday as a deadline for the removal process, the U.S. Forest Service has no intentions to begin a roundup that day and have up to a year to finalize plans.
Lake goers 12 News spoke with on Monday seemed surprised that the forest service wanted to remove them.
"They're just peaceful, I think they're pretty, not worth getting rid of them," said Kirsten Bluth who was with her family at the lake.
"I haven't seen them running around kicking cars or anything, so they'll be fine," Jacob Bluth said.
The Salt River Wild Horses Management Group and other advocates have been fighting the roundup for the past few years. They say they were hoping the government would choose a more humane option or at least work with them on ways to allow the horses to stay with population control.
"It's madness, it's madness," Netherlands said. "That attitude has to change before there are none left."
The group created a Change.org petition in an effort to stop the forest service from removing the horses.
First Cecil now the wild horses, what is the Admin trying to hide now?
What’s PETA’s position on this issue?
More than a few of these animals are abandoned by the suburban owners who could no longer afford them. Ft. McDowell Indians have never had much in the way of stock; particularly since they have opened casinos.
These animals are tearing up the vegetation and terrain along the Salt River to a major degree and their removal bothers only the bleeding heart namby pamby, Bambinazis, and stupid. Facts is facts.....
As is how I classify most federal employees at most any location.
Cecil the horse
Let it remain as it has. No need t get all rigid about rules in the wild. Horses matter too! Freedom to range and run and live free!!!
Save the wild horses !!!
Horses are not a native species. Wild horses are just like feral cats and dogs. They can be very destructive of the fragile western environment. They must be controlled. The BLM spends 80% of it’s budget on caring for thousands of wild horses that they have captured to preserve habitat. They Spend lot’s of money getting people to adopt the younger ones. Most people who get one of them find out the hard way that a feral horse is a dangerous animal.
I agree. It takes many many acres to support just one of these animals in that environment. The area that has the most vegetation is along the river, so of course the animals naturally head there to eat. If there isn’t enough feed for them all, they absolutely do destroy the riparian areas, eating anything, including small trees, just to survive. When the vegetation along the river is gone, the water table drops, and it turns into a dry wash, which gets even worse each time a flash flood flows through, now that there isn’t any vegetation to slow the water down.
Grazing domestic livestock in dessert areas is not a lucrative business. I haven’t been to that area of the Salt in a long time. Has Tamarisk taken that area over?
Just to be fair, I’m generally not very supportive of the Forest Services efforts either. ANYTHING perceived to be non-native, including horses, is seen as taboo and must be removed at all costs in their view. According to Agenda 21 plans I’ve seen, eventually these environazis intend to set aside areas that even humans will be banned, unless of course you are ‘special’, that is, either a wildlife biologist or someone with a forest service rank.
Rover’s horsemeat content in his dogfood was long ago diverted toward increased production of “Mighty Dog For Seniors”.
Social Security only goes so far.
What harm are they causing that prompts this edict by the regime?
And the horses can't fight back. Perhaps some horse-loving Patriots will become the horse protector militia and remove the regime terrorists.
Ok, just scrolled down and read of the damage these non-native creatures are doing. Can we treat Muslims the same way?
Here in OK we've got millions of tax dollars going every year to do nothing but rent land for wild Mustangs to do nothing but graze. And nobody wants them for saddle ponies. After the real estate adjustment in '08, people who had bought them just left them on the abandoned properties.
A world gone mad. If we could turn the clock back to the 50s...a saner time.
Is it 1776 yet? Will Forest Service Green replace the Redcoats as targets of opportunity? Does a 30-06 outshoot a muzzle loader musket?
Forest Service green, and UN blue.
‘A representative from the Tonto National Forest Service told 12 News the agency isn’t authorized to manage the horses and removing them is for public safety. The spokesperson cited highway accidents involving horses and also said because the animals are known to frequent a popular recreation area, they fear visitors will end up getting hurt. So far, no injuries have been reported’
We have lived in the general area for 6 years.......never yet heard of a car/horse or anything else/horse accident. The Forest Service just wants them gone. And We, the People, have no voice. They’re beautiful to watch and they are a tourist attraction, too.
Horses ok to kill, lions not ok. Sounds about right in today’s crazy, mixed up, stupid and ignorant world.
Blame it all on WILD HORSE ANNIE. She fought to save the mustangs and got laws passed against wild horse roundups.
Now the wild horse population has exploded and they have overgrazed their lands so bad the government now operates wild horse roundups, then tries to give them away to anyone who wants them.
Many of them still end up in dog food.
“The Misfits”
Clark Gable’s last film, released after his death at 59.
Marilyn Monroe’s last film, too. No spring chicken by then but she was still sooooo beautiful.
So it’s OK to eat a cow but not a horse. The Chick Fil-A cows have struggled against this injustice for decades now.
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