BREAKING: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Salt River Wild Horse Management Group awarded AZDA Contract with New Herd Management Plan

Salt River, AZ – February 18, 2026 – The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) will continue its humane management of the Salt River wild horses after being awarded a new five-year contract by the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA). However, under the new management plan, the herd is set to be reduced from 274 horses to 120 horses.

Contract Requirement:

Last year, the Arizona Department of Agriculture issued a Request for Proposals that, for the first time, included a mandate for “humane removal of horses from the herd” citing resource scarcity. SRWHMG needed to include the removal requirement in their proposal, or risk losing the contract to a competitor with a very different management approach.

A Difficult Decision:

“After many years of protection, agreeing to removals was incredibly difficult,” said Simone Netherlands, founder and president of SRWHMG. “But considering the alternative contractor, we determined the herd would be worse off without us. For their ultimate safety, we felt we needed to compromise.”

Competing Contractor Context:

The competing bidder has previously removed hundreds of Alpine horses from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, many of whom were sent to auctions in Texas. SRWHMG currently has litigation pending related to those removals and regarding the treatment of those horses and the contractor’s processes. “If we had not submitted our proposal, the state would have turned management over to a contractor whose approach focuses on large-scale removals,” Netherlands said. “We could not take that risk with Arizona’s beloved Salt River wild horses.”

A More Humane Approach:

Under the new contract, SRWHMG will meet the population target through gradual relocations to pre-vetted AZDA approved sanctuaries, including its own Prescott sanctuary, rather than large-scale roundups. Fertility control will keep the mandated removals as small as possible, approximately 25 horses annually, until the target population is reached.

Land and Public Access:

SRWHMG needs support and is actively seeking land or leases closer to the Salt River to relocate horses while keeping family bands intact and the public able to view them. A previous proposal offered by the City of Scottsdale to provide sanctuary space on the Sonoran Preserve was voted down. “The horses need a good place to go where they can stay together and the public can still come see them,” said Simone Netherlands.

Herd History, Fertility, and Legal Protection:

The Salt River Wild Horses have roamed the Tonto National Forest for generations and are protected under Arizona state law signed in 2017. SRWHMG has managed the herd under contract with AZDA since 2018, and through its fertility control program, the herd has already been reduced to the current 274 horses. The organization takes care of every aspect of humane management, including rescue when needed, a feed program during drought, fence maintenance to keep them off the roads, and a habitat improvement and a public education program. SRWHMG is funded entirely by public donations, as the contract provides no compensation and no government grants.

“We care about each and every Salt River wild horse, and we know the public does too” said Simone Netherlands. “We thank the AZDA for making the right decision and entrusting us with their continued humane management.”

We know how concerned people are with the beloved Salt River Horse Herd. Please Feel free to ask us any questions either per email or under this breaking news post and we will do our best to explain the details of the new management plan. The plan itself is also posted in the comments.
Please feel free to share, but if you make your own post, please cite where you heard it first! For the public and by the public,

SRWHMG.