Wild horses shot dead near Heber, bringing two-year total killings to more than two dozen

Fifteen wild horses from a herd in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests were found dead on Jan. 9 and 14, most from from gunshot wounds, officials said.

The separate shootings of two equine family groups is the latest in a string of similar incidents that have claimed the lives of about two dozen horses on the Mogollon Rim over the past two years.

Another eight horses were found too decomposed to determine cause of death or were determined to have died by accident in 2018 and 2019, according to the national forest's website.

The herd has remained at a steady population of 200-300 horses over the past two decades, said local horse advocate Robin Crawford of the Heber Wild Horses Freedom Preservation Alliance, and is protected by the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act of 1971.

The law is meant to help manage wild horse herds in an ecological balance as well as protect them from branding, capture, harassment or death, according to Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest’s Heber wild horse information site.

How the herd came to be

In 1974, after a survey found a small herd within forest boundaries, 19,700 acres west of Heber and south of S.R. 260 were designated as a wild horse territory. The herd is also the only one that receives such federal protection, said Apache-Sitgreaves forest spokesperson Steven Johnson.

After the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire burned about 23 miles of fences between the national forest and the White Mountain Apache Tribe's lands, a large number of horses migrated to the national forest and the Heber Wild Horse Territory. Many of those horses were determined to belong to White Mountain Apache Tribe members or to private owners, and although the tribe reclaimed many of them, the Heber herd is still larger than it once was.

READ MORE: What's being done about wild horse shootings near Heber?

And that seems to have made some people unhappy.

Crawford called the killings devastating and said she doesn’t believe authorities have identified any suspects. But, she said, necropsies confirmed that the 15 horses were shot.

Facebook photos on the Heber wild horse alliance’s site shows at least one of the necropsies in process.

“Last year’s shootings were pretty random,” said Crawford. “It’s like somebody drove up and down the road and just shot at what they could.” But the two January shootings took out entire bands.

Crawford said that two family units were killed. “These were two family units,” she said. “Foals, mares and the stallions were all killed.”

Johnson could not confirm the identity of specific horses, nor could he confirm that all 15 died from gunshot wounds because some of the bodies had decomposed by the time law enforcement and equine experts arrived.

Crawford believes a “wild horse hater” could be responsible for the killings. “Who else would do that?” she asked.

READ MORE: In Arizona, a fight over horses in the forest

What's being done about the shootings?

The investigation team includes the U. S. Forest Service, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office and the Arizona Department of Agriculture. Spokespersons from the sheriff’s office and the Agriculture Department directed questions to the Forest Service.

Killing a federally protected wild horse or burro is a federal offense subject to a fine of up to $2,000, up to one year in prison or both, said Johnson.

Crawford said Forest Service statistics show the herd’s population had been stable since 2014.

“In 2017, the last flyover found 292 horses,” Crawford said. But, she said, drought conditions in 2018, the 2018 and 2019 shootings, and last year’s hard winter have resulted in a herd reduction in addition to the January shootings. “We figured that there were about 170 coming into last spring,” she said.

Also, Crawford noted, the Heber horses are truly wild, and not human-managed.

“They’re not supplementally fed, they’re not treated by vets, they are depredated by apex predators and they die natural deaths,” she said. “These are wild horses and we’d like to keep them that way.”

SPECIAL REPORT: Running Wild: The plight of wild horses on public lands

The Forest Service is in the process of developing a management plan for the herd, and Crawford said that she’s been told the plan will be released for public comment later this month.

Meanwhile, authorities say they are looking for more information about the killings.

"Tips are really critical in these cases," said Johnson. "The first 24 hours are especially crucial, since scavengers can carry off or eat evidence."

Johnson added that the Forest Service is working to increase response times to horse death reports so they can be onsite within 24 hours, including bringing veterinarians to perform necropsies.

He asked the public to contact Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest’s Black Mesa Ranger District at 928-535-7300 to report an injured or deceased horse with tips. People can also call the Navajo County Sheriff's Office at 1-800-78CRIME.

Reach the reporter at debra.krol@AZCentral.com or at 602-444-8490. Follow her on Twitter at @debkrol.

Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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