WIN: Salt River Wild Horse Removals Paused
The following is from the American Wild Horse Conservation:
ALT RIVER WILD HORSES WIN
Governor Katie Hobbs has paused planned removals in 2026 and 2027.
Dear Meredith,
This week brought an important victory for Arizona’s beloved Salt River wild horses.
Governor Katie Hobbs announced that planned removals will be paused in 2026 and 2027, allowing time for a genetic study to be completed and used to inform future management decisions.
The study will examine the herd’s genetic needs and characteristics, helping ensure future decisions support a healthy, genetically viable population.
This pause protects the herd from the removals that were set to move forward while creating an opportunity for science, not arbitrary population targets, to guide what comes next.
YOU SPOKE UP. ARIZONA LISTENED.
This decision follows months of sustained advocacy. AWHC supporters answered our Action Alerts, signed petitions, shared the campaign, and raised their voices for the Salt River herd.
AWHC also sent two letters to Governor Hobbs’ office urging her administration to uphold protections for these horses and prioritize humane, science-based management. We were prepared to seek legal recourse if the removals proceeded.
This week, the Governor’s office responded to our second letter and then publicly announced the pause.
This is what determined, collective advocacy can accomplish.
A HUMANE MANAGEMENT MODEL WORTH PROTECTING
The Salt River wild horses are protected under Arizona state law and are an important part of the state’s natural and cultural heritage.
For years, the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group has demonstrated that humane, in-the-wild management can work. Through science-based fertility control, daily monitoring, habitat stewardship, and community partnership, the group has reduced the herd from more than 460 horses while achieving a net-zero reproduction rate.
This work has been accomplished almost entirely through humane, in-the-wild management, not helicopter roundups or large-scale removals.
We commend Governor Hobbs for upholding the long-standing protections for this significant Arizona herd and creating time to study its genetic needs before future management decisions are made.
We also recognize the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group for its continued leadership and care for these horses.
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Thank you for signing, sharing, and standing with the Salt River wild horses. Your voice helped demonstrate that the public expects these iconic horses to be managed humanely and protected on the landscape they call home.
The work is not over. The genetic study and future management decisions will matter, and AWHC will continue advocating for a healthy, genetically viable herd managed humanely in the wild.
Today, we celebrate this important progress and the power of refusing to look away.
With gratitude,
The AWHC Team
P.S. This victory shows what sustained advocacy can achieve. Your gift will help AWHC remain ready to act whenever wild horses and burros are threatened.