In the Tonto National Forest, near the Salt River, lives a herd of about a hundred horses who have made that forest their home. For reasons that surpass understanding, the United States Forest Service has dubbed these peaceful creatures a "public safety" issue. The USFS wants to roust the horses out of their habitat and put them on the auction block.
Animal rights activists are outraged and for good reason. Read the fine print on the USFS' intentions and it turns out that any horses not claimed or bought can be "condemned and destroyed, or otherwise disposed."
From the USFS point of view, these noble animals are merely livestock, though some activists believe they are the descendants of horses imported by a Spanish missionary several hundred years ago. As such, their tenancy of the the Salt River area precedes that of most human families in the area. Please join with me in demanding that the forest service leave the horses where they are living peacefully and doing no harm.
To the United States Forest Service:
We the undersigned are frankly dismayed at your proposal to roust a historic herd of horses from their home in an Arizona forest where, by some reports, their ancestors have lived since the Spanish invasion of the Americas. It appears that your plan does not involve relocating the horses to another, similar habitat. Instead, you propose to put these majestic wild animals through the terrible stress of being captured, transported, and auctioned. If owners are not readily found, your plan is to butcher the horses. We fail to see how the horses, if left where they are, constitute any kind of significant threat to public safety. Please desist from your plan to remove these horses from their Arizona habitat. Leave them where they are!
