The Forest Service continues to plan for the necessary removal of a number of unauthorized livestock, commonly referred to as feral horses, on the Apache National Forest. This decision is a necessary step to ensure that the Apache National Forest is healthy and sustainable for years to come. These feral horses cause substantial problems for not only native plants and animals, which are being outcompeted for resources, but they also destroy watersheds and negatively impact ecosystems. They also pose an imminent threat to several federally listed and threatened species. These animals will be gathered using passive trapping techniques. Active gathering, which uses helicopters and physically moving animals, will not be used at this time.
In order to ensure that accurate information is shared, we have provided a list of commonly asked questions we have received from the public. This page will be updated as we receive more questions and we encourage you to refer to these answers as the trusted source of information. Information shared on non-official sites, and non-forest Service social media pages are not trusted sources of information and we highly encourage you and others to refer to this page. Any questions or comments on this topic can be sent to Questions about Feral Horses.