Centennial burros at Ridgecrest facility

As the new year gets underway we want to take a moment to spotlight the long-ears. Many of you are writing to us asking about burros. 

Of the thousands of burros captured in the last few years, 11 are currently being offered on the BLM Internet Adoption Auction. All of these burros have a bid. These burros are all from southern CA; Centennial or Clarks (off HA means off Centennial or Clarks). Clarks Mountain was the site of a grizzly mass shooting of over 40 burros in 2019. None of the burros are from high profile removals like Black Mountain or Blue Wing. In fact, there has been little to no ability to check on the welfare of those burros.

Burros are not horses. Capture stress impacts them differently. Diet requirements are very different for burros as well as veterinary care when they are sick. (You can learn more HERE)

We hope BLM has begun addressing the differences with prospective adopters. They do not address distinctions between burros and horses in on-range monitoring including population growth monitoring (more HERE).

Our concern for our wild burros has intensified as BLM amps up the lack of transparency, the Adoption Incentive Program (subsidized adoptions) and removals as the worldwide illegal donkey trade explodes. 

Donkeys around the world, including our own nation’s wild burros, are in peril.

The global threat is fueled by China’s Ejiao trade; inside the United States it is driven by the very agency tasked with their protection – the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM claims they need to drive down the population of wild burros to less than 3,000, the level they say “is appropriate.” Burros are being removed in larger numbers than ever, hidden in off-limits facilities, slipped out through “sale” and the Adoption Incentive Program. Make no mistake, U.S. donkeys are being sold and exported into this nefarious illegal wildlife trade that is driving the donkey population worldwide into crisis.

In September of 2021, the Ejaio Act was introduced to stop U.S. import and sale of this product (gelatin made from the hides of donkeys). 

We are waiting for the reintroduction of this bill into the new 118th Congress. 

You can help. 

Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr. of Virginia introduced the Ejaio Act in 2021. He can reintroduce this important piece of legislation in 2023 to the 118th Congress that began earlier this month (all bills “die” at the end of a Congressional session and the Ejaio Act needs to be reintroduced). If you are a constituent (living in his district) you can contact him and ask that he reintroduce the bill.

If you live in any of the districts of cosponsors of the bill in the 117th Congress, and your Congressional rep maintained their seat, you can look them up and contact them and ask that they help get this bill reintroduced in the 118th Congress.

Our team is tracking this bill and will update you when we know more.

This week our team is working on the Blue Wing litigation. At Blue Wing we are addressing the long standing deficits in how BLM neglects management, care and then tries to hide the consequences. This case has a focus on wild burros in the 1.2 million acre complex (over 2 million if you count the areas BLM has removed for wild horse and burro use) and BLM says only 55-90 burros can live in the area (that can sustain intensive livestock and mining).

As the year begins we want to reassure you that the long-ears won’t drop off our radar.

You can learn more about the wild horse and burros program on our resource page that includes links to WHE’s in-depth reports and BLM archives. (Click Here)

Help keep us in the fight