Wild Horses On The Salt

Wild Horses

Wild HorsesAncient horses roamed the Americas beside woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, dire wolves, and other large mammals. Then, at the end of the Pleistocene era 12,000 years ago, the climate cooled and these creatures disappeared, the result of mass extinctions.

And yet, today, the horse survives. It was the land bridge between North America and Asia that spared the horse from being nothing but a fossil, a creature cast only in stone.

Horses crossed the land bridge into Asia, where ancient man domesticated the elegant beast 5,500 years ago on the grasslands of what would become Ukraine. It was not until 1493, when Christopher Columbus arrived in what is today the Virgin Islands, that horses again touched ground in the Americas. The progeny of these animals brought by European explorers escaped, bred, and ranged across the continent.

Though millions of wild horses once roamed free in the United States, today, approximately 82,000 remain. Because their ancestors were brought here by explorers, there are some who believe these animals are an invasive species, a creature that should be culled to safeguard native fauna, fragile grasslands, and riparian habitats. Others believe the wild horse should be defended, protected, and allowed to roam free.

The debate is ongoing.

Three Salt River Horses Shot, Foal Killed; MCSO Seeks Suspect

BY RAY STERN

Phoenix New Times

Authorities are asking for the public's help to find a suspect who shot three wild Salt River horses on Friday evening.

At least one of the horses, a foal, was killed, possibly with a shotgun. The other two horses are believed to be injured or dead.

At about 6 p.m. on Friday, a witness saw someone wearing black shorts and a dark-green shirt in an area known as Pirate's Island shooting at the horses. The area is off Bush Highway between a tubing business and Pebble Beach.

The wild horses of the Salt River live primarily in the Tonto National Forest near the convergence of the Verde and Salt rivers in the East Valley. In May, Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill into law that makes it a crime to harass, kill, or otherwise interfere with the horses.

“Witnesses saw one of the horses in the river down in the water thrashing about and witnessed two other horses get hit with rounds from a rifle or shotgun,” according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

After shooting at the horses, the suspect reportedly followed the animals as they fled. Investigators believe at least two other people were with the shooter at the time.