Us Forest service agrees to historic settlement in case of apache-sitgreaves wild horses

Forest Service Agrees to Preserve Heber Wild Horse Territory, To Create a Management Strategy for the Territory, & for the Wild Horses in It

Phoenix, AZ (March 21, 2007). In one of the most significant victories to preserve wild horses in the United States, the US Forest Service has entered into a settlement agreement with In Defense of Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, the International Society for the Protection of Wild Mustangs and Burros and Arizona residents including Phoenix resident, Dr. Pat Haight.

The settlement agreement includes a commitment by the US Forest Service to maintain a Heber Wild Horse Territory in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, to create a management strategy for the Heber Wild Horse Territory and for the wild horses in it, and to remove no horses from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests until the study is completed and management strategy in place.

The settlement agreement came after a lawsuit was filed by Anthony Merrill, JD, on behalf of the animal groups and private citizens in 2005 to keep the US Forest Service from removing all of the wild horses in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, turning them over to the Arizona Department of Agriculture for sale at an auction facility outside of Holbrook, Arizona where most would have gone to killer buyers for horse slaughter houses.  In December 2005, after hearing the overwhelming evidence including affidavits, pictures, and historical information on the 400 year history of the wild horses in that region, a Federal District Court Judge for the District of Arizona issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the US Forest Service from removing or harming any of the horses pending full litigation of the lawsuit to protect them and keep them in their ancestral lands.

Today, Anthony Merrill, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, announced that the US Forest Service and the plaintiffs had reached the agreement to keep the Heber Wild Horse Territory and to create a management strategy for the territory and the wild horses in it. 

The plaintiffs will continue to be closely involved as the NEPA process goes forward to make certain that a viable number of wild horses are preserved in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, that they are managed properly, and that any removed for management reasons are done so in the most humane manner and adopted out with protections for their welfare.  The agreement has great historical relevance as one of the most significant victories to preserve wild horses on Federal lands.

The wild horses of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests have been quietly living undiscovered for the most part in the area by everyone but local residents for almost 400 years.  They are a particularly rare group of wild horses whose roots can be traced to visits by the famous Jesuit priest on horseback, Father Eusebio Kino, with mounted soldiers on Spanish horses to the region as early as 1653.   Wild horse experts have been particularly impressed with the wild behaviors preserved in these horses because they have remained untouched and ungathered for the most part for generations.

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Contact:  Anthony Merrill, J.D. 602-364-7174

                 Patricia Haight, Ph.D. 480-232-8068