PHOENIX — The fight to save a herd of wild horses in northeastern Arizona continues.
A group of rescue advocates met at the state Capitol, Friday, to rally support for proposed legislation that would protect the herd of wild horses living near Alpine from their ultimate demise.
The U.S. Forest Service currently considers Alpine wild horses as "unauthorized livestock" that cause damage to the surrounding landscape.
Their current policy is to round up the horses and sell them at auction for adoption. But rescue advocates like Simone Netherlands, President of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG), say that's not what's happening.
"Not only have they been killed and shot in the forest, but they have been rounded up and then sold online at auctions without limitations to slaughter," she said.
Netherlands says 50 horses have been found dead in the Alpine Forest but the U.S. Forest Service has done very little when it comes to investigating the crimes and no one has been held responsible thus far.
"They only want to see money-making interests there, like cattle grazing and wildlife hunting, and those interests see the wild horses as competition unfortunately," Netherlands said when discussing the Forest Service's motivation to solve the illegal horse killings.
"There are now fewer than 200 Alpine wild horses left, and there are 1000 cattle allowed in that forest, so you can see that the balance is way off there," she said.
Netherlands says SRWHMG has stepped in to purchase and save a lot of the horses, but they can't save them all.
"These poor horses go from this beautiful forest where they belong to being driven to Mexico to slaughter for human consumption, and that is an outrage," she said. "Now we have fewer than 200 Alpine horses left, so we hope that the public will give them a voice before they're all gone."
With Netherlands support, Arizona State Senator John Kavanagh recently introduced Senate Bill 1057. If passed, the bill would prohibit the shooting, killing and illegal slaughter of alpine horses, foster humane adoptions, and support a fertility control program to stabilize the population.
"This bill simply proposes to control the population in a humane way," Netherlands said. "We’re really encouraging the public to come out and call their senators and support this bill."
Netherlands says S.B. 1057 was written with the same language as the bill that ultimately led to the protection of the Salt River herd of wild horses back in 2016.
"The Arizona public loves wild horses and it’s because they're part of Arizona history. They are literally how we got here, on whose back we built this country, and how he plowed our fields. Wild horses are so historic because they're the first ones who came here even before our ancestors did." Netherlands added.
She has helped organize a major event this Saturday to support S.B. 1057 and the protection of the Alpine wild horse herd.
On Saturday, Jan 28th hundreds of motorcycles and Mustang cars are expected at the 8th annual ride for the Salt River wild horses, which will be in support of the Alpine wild horses this time.
The hundreds of motorcycles and Mustang cars can be seen riding along Bush Highway in the Tonto National Forest, with the best viewing at mile marker 36 pullout.
Approximately 300 wild horse supporters will be joining each other at the end party at Harley Davidson in Apache Junction.
•Event Starts at American Legion Post 58 Fountain Hills
•9am - 11am
•End Party @ Superstition Harley-Davidson® Apache Junction 11am - 3pm.
