Arizona Wild Horse Advocates Win State Contract for Humane Removal

The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group says the contract requires cutting the horse herd by more than half by 2030.

A band of wild horses feeds within the Tonto National Forest near Fort McDowell, Ariz., on Feb. 27, 2026. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

FORT MCDOWELL, Ariz.—A nonprofit group that oversees the last free-roaming Salt River wild horses in Arizona’s vast Tonto National Forest has received a state contract to continue humanely managing the herd, which includes reducing the herd by more than half over the next five years.

In 2025, the Arizona Department of Agriculture issued a request for proposal with a state mandate to reduce the Salt River herd using humane methods.