Arizona House Members Advocate for Salt River Herd Growth Control

A bipartisan group from Arizona's U.S. House of Representatives delegation is calling on the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to establish a plan to manage the growth of the Salt River feral horse herd. The Salt River herd, residing in the Tonto National Forest, was not protected by federal law until Arizona passed legislation earlier this year. This legislation placed the horses under the jurisdiction of the Maricopa County Sheriff's office and the U.S. Forest Service.

Call for Fertility Control

In a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak, six Arizona house members urged the immediate treatment of Salt River mares with porcine zona pellucida (PZP), an immunocontraceptive vaccine, to manage herd growth. This request followed the USFS's denial of a plan that would have allowed the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) and its national partner, the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Preservation), to vaccinate the mares. Simone Netherlands, SRWHMG president, stated that the plan was rejected because the USFS is not authorized to manage the herd and cannot authorize others to conduct herd management practices.

Importance of PZP Application

Despite the rejection, the group emphasized in its letter that PZP application is crucial to stabilize the herd and ensure its health. They stated, “We agree that humane fertility control is the right approach for managing the health and stability of the herd, which has a population growth rate of 8% to 10% annually. There is no cost to the federal government. Our constituents simply want permission to conduct a humane fertility control program on Forest Service land to protect the health of the Salt River horses.”

Netherlands believes the fertility control program is vital for the horses’ future: “Using PZP now will keep the herd to a healthy size for its habitat and protect horses from being subject to roundups and removal.”

No one from USFS was available for comment on the letter.

Originally posted by The Horse.