Conservation groups accuse US Forest Service of illegally rounding up wild horses in Arizona

PHOENIX — A national wild horse advocacy group is putting the U.S. Forest Service on notice, demanding an immediate halt to the removal of wild horses from the Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona.

Return to Freedom Wild Horse Conservation, joined by Front Range Equine Rescue and The Gila Herd Foundation of Arizona, fired off a letter to officials on Friday, alleging the agency is bypassing federal law to clear the range.

At the center of the dispute is the agency’s classification of the horses as “unauthorized livestock.” The advocacy groups argue the label is a strategic, and legally flawed, maneuver to strip the animals of protections guaranteed under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

“We will not stand by while the Forest Service removes wild horses from their federally designated habitat on the basis of a determination that is legally deficient, scientifically unsupported and fundamentally at odds with the agency’s own management plan,” the coalition wrote in a news release.

The groups contend that for the Forest Service to legally classify the horses as “unauthorized livestock,” it must prove the animals were placed on public land by private owners and did not intermingle with the protected Heber herd.

The Heber Wild Horse Territory, which spans roughly 19,700 acres within the Sitgreaves National Forest, was established in 1974 under federal protection. The advocates argue the agency has failed to meet the burden required to remove the animals.

“The Forest Service has clearly failed to satisfy the legal standard for classifying these wild horses as ‘unauthorized livestock,'” Neda DeMayo, founder and president of Return to Freedom, said.

The coalition is calling on the Forest Service to immediately rescind or suspend the “unauthorized livestock” designation and stop all capture operations in and around the Heber territory. They are demanding the agency conduct proper genetic testing, behavioral studies and field surveys to accurately determine the status of the horses before taking any further action.

The Forest Service has not yet publicly responded to the demand.

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