Wild Salt River horse gives birth near Cactus Fire flames
May 3, 2017, 4:30 AM | Updated: 2:13 pm
PHOENIX — A wild Salt River horse gave birth to a colt near the Cactus Fire less than half a mile from the flames just northeast of Mesa. The horses are safe.
In fact, all of the Salt River horses were found safe after flames raged near the Bush Highway, according to the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG). That group fittingly named the young horse “Cactus Fire.”
The horses were once the subject of a public debate over whether they should be relocated. But the U.S. Forest Service, which once sought to remove the animals, came to their aide by fighting the Cactus Fire. The SRWHMG estimated that less than one percent of the horses’ habitat was burned.
The fire had closed the highway between Power and Usery Roads, but it has since reopened.
