On Wednesday, an Arizona House panel debated and passed HB2340, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Townsend of Mesa, that would protect the Salt River wild horse herd by making them “state property” thereby allowing the Arizona Department of Agriculture to have control of the animals.
Contrary to claims by fringe groups, the horses are not covered by Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 and National Environmental Policy Act. Those same groups are attempting to argue that Townsend’s bill is “is a very unlawful move” that “would do more harm than good.”
Despite language in Townsend’s bill that specifically prohibits the slaughter of the animals, Jennifer Best, associate attorney for Friends of Animals’ Wildlife Law Program made the unsubstantiated claim in an article on the group’s website that the bill “is nothing more than a disguised attempt to eradicate the Salt River Wild horses.” If that baseless claim was not enough, Best also avers that the group’s opposition is based on their belief that the “attempts to give Arizona the ability to authorize the slaughter or euthanasia of healthy horses on federal public land.”
According to an email response from Priscilla Feral, President of Friends of Animals, to Townsend, the group’s opposition appears to be less about the specifics of Townsend’s bill and more of a result of a paranoid ideation. As an example, Feral alleges: “Many of these government (sic) are on a mission to eradicate public horses and to assert more state control over the nation’s public lands and resources.” Feral then makes the same specious claim that Townsend’s bill “fails to provide any specific legal protection for the Salt River Wild Horses….”
Contrary to the vitriol spewed by the group, it was Townsend in December 2015, who worked with both state and federal officials to get a reprieve for the hoses. As a result, the U.S. Forest Service withdrew its July 31, 2015, decision to impound the wild horses that roam the Tonto National Forest along the Salt River.
According to the parties, Townsend had worked tirelessly to reach an agreement before the expiration of the 120-day stay of the roundup that she negotiated with federal officials.
While the Friends of Animals group alleges that “any attempt to put these horses in the hands of the state could have devastating results,” it was the federal agency that had issued the impound notice. In fact, the Forest Service does not believe the horses should be protected under federal law. So it becomes clear that Townsend’s bill is the horses’ best chance for survival.
If the Washington-based Friends of Animals want to focus on the control of public lands; the people of Arizona want simply to protect the horses that have, and hopefully will continue to represent all that is good about the West.