Preface: Last month, we presented an article about a burro with club-foot that immediately went to a local rescue/rehab during the Black Mountain roundup. This partnership raised a few questions about the BLM euthanasia policy that denotes that animals with non-life threatening conditions such as “blind in one eye” or “club foot” be euthanized. Why aren’t partnerships, including some of the large grant funding BLM has that could save lives, a focal point for BLM?

The rescue of Clubby raises other questions as well.
In part 2 we explore the human equation that is increasingly responsible for removals: recreation. 

Why this is a problem and how to fix it is discussed below. 

Jenny “panhandling” with her foal along the road.

Submitted by WHE volunteer, Laurie Ford

In the Black Mountain Wild Burro Herd Management Area there are numerous other “local” burros like Clubby who have become so habituated to human interaction they congregate, on a daily basis, in select areas and along roadways patiently waiting to be fed. The results are “localized overpopulations” that, while bringing joy to some members of the public, create headaches for others who complain of damage to private property. This has also contributed to the growing number of vehicle collisions involving burros that can leave behind orphaned foals like little Traffic Cone whose mother was struck and killed.

Traffic Cone, orphan whose mom was struck by a vehicle and killed

The HMA is surrounded by sprawling towns and neighborhoods that are contending with these “public safety and animal welfare concerns” involving burros – a matter that both residents and tourists have helped to create. Either way, these burros are viewed as a nuisance to be dealt with – hence; “nuisance gathers” that periodically take place along with scheduled roundups.

During the time I was observing the Black Mountain roundup (January 10-15) the trap site was located in the southwestern portion of the HMA, east of Hwy 10, between the towns of Topock and Oatman. This is the area where Clubby and other “locals” were captured.

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There were no cattle present in the immediate area (however, livestock grazing in other parts of the HMA probably increase the burros need to look elsewhere),  but a great deal of people “dry camping” and “off-roading” with all terrain vehicles – two more contributing factors that impact the habitat fragmentation and natural movement of the burros.  In fact, there had been a “traffic jam” of sorts on one day at capture where off road vehicles lined up to cross the area of the trap. A roundup had not taken place in the vicinity for years.

The trap site was then moved near Yucca – west of I-40. It was in this area, east of the mountain range, where most of the jennies were captured during the HSUS PZP field study (2017-2021), treated with fertility control, marked and released – burros that BLM was hoping to recapture, booster and microchip.  On January 22 the trap site was relocated to Golden Shores, another area the burros have infiltrated – mainly due to human led activities – where an additional 164 burros were gathered bringing the total number captured to 1150.

At the conclusion of the roundup 47 burros were released including 15 HSUS boosted jennies, 12 jennies who received fertility control primers and 20 white and pinto burros of which some were babies and moms.

Off-road vehicles getting the all clear to travel through trap area

Along historic Rt. 66, and within the HMA boundaries, is the old mining town of Oatman where the main tourist attraction, and fundamental part of the economy, are the Black Mountain wild burros.

During my visit to Oatman and Mojave Valley (south of Bullhead City), via 10 and Oatman Highway, I was only able to photograph a few of the 30 plus burros I passed along the road in less than 1.50 miles.

If vehicles stop along the roadways for any reason, even if just to take a picture, they act like a magnet and, in a matter of minutes, become surrounded by burros. In many instances it takes a great deal of effort for a vehicle to navigate around those burros who refuse to even get out of the road.

In Oatman, I only noticed about 7 or 8 but there was so much traffic there certainly could have been more. Every morning like clockwork, burros come in from the hills and station themselves at their routine panhandling location in town or along the roadways. In the evening some would return to the hills while others remain along the dark and winding narrow road.

At either end of town there is a single sign warning people “No Feeding in Roadway” yet upon arriving in Oatman almost every store is selling  carrots or hay cubes to feed the burros.

Feeding sugar rich or starchy food items, alfalfa cubes or junk foods can cause deadly obesity, colic and laminitis (founder). This can also have a detrimental impact on pregnant jennies causing foaling complications by giving birth to unusually large babies with developmental issues or having foals with life threatening abnormalities.

While the townspeople do appear to care a great deal about the burros – putting stickers on the foreheads of babies saying “do not feed me” – I don’t think they can deny the fact that it these burros that make the town so unique and are the major draw factor for tourists.

Despite the BLM urging the town of Oatman to “adopt” and care for the “town” burros themselves, they prefer to rely on the BLM when one gets sick or injured.

According to AZ statutes it is illegal for donkeys to sleep in bathtubs. On the other hand, there is no statute about feeding burros out of a bathtub on your private property.

16 U.S.C. § 1334, a subset of the 1971 Free-Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act states:

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a private landowner from maintaining wild free-roaming horses or burros on his private lands, or lands leased from the Government, if he does so in a manner that protects them from harassment, and if the animals were not willfully removed or enticed from the public lands.

The above federal code is often interpreted only in the context of holding facilities. But there are permittees that open gates to private property and allow horses or burros to graze. (note: WHE has seen such permittees “get in trouble” with BLM as enticing “off HMA” and into “trespass” if a gate is open and water on the other side.)

While AZ 13-2927, passed in 2006, making it unlawful to feed wildlife, there is no reference to wild burros who continue to be referred to as an invasive species, feral or livestock. That is, except in local tourist pamphlets where burros are listed as a wildlife attraction.

In January, 2016, a proposal to hunt hundreds of Black Mountain burros (agenda item 31), as a response to the growing “overpopulation” in communities and along roadways, was temporarily suspended by the Mohave County Board of Supervisors.

Despite the pause Supervisor, Steve Moss, did add “if the status quo is allowed to continue, something catastrophic is going to happen and the local or federal government could be forced “to do something inhumane.” (more HERE)

According to the Associated Press later that year in August, the Mojave County Board of Supervisors agreed to draft an ordinance making it illegal for people to feed the burros along or near roadways. 

In July,2016, the motion was approved to take action on the implementation of “restrictions on feeding burros along public roadways” and it was referred to the county attorney to draft such an ordinance. Potential signage was also being considered.

But, according to the response to my Mojave County Records Request absolutely nothing transpired until a complaint was received in December, 2019, “about the cars blocking the road in Oatman when people stop to feed the burros” and a request was made for signage  asking people not to feed the burro’ s and not to block the traffic with their cars. In April, 2020, a resolution (No. 2020-042) was adopted to establish “NO FEEDING IN ROADWAY” signs at the approaches to Oatman.

This could explain why, after entering and leaving Oatman several times, I never actually noticed these signs that make no reference to burros at all.

I failed to find any ordinance regarding the feeding of burros in roadways listed under the Mojave County ordinance index. This reflects a failure, on the part of local officials, to assume responsibility for a problem their constituents, and the tourists who contribute to their economy, have played a role in creating. Instead, they continue to rely on the BLM, and never-ending burro removals, as the solution.

It is against federal law to feed wild burros on federal public lands but enforcement personnel are so limited it impossible to adequately enforce. The number of BLM law enforcement rangers has changed little over the past few decades averaging about 1 for every 1.2 million acres despite now also having to contend with the explosion in outdoor recreation and off-road vehicle use which not only impacts the health of the land but has added additional pressure on the burros to migrate to areas they avoided in the past.

The concept that burros are coming into communities because there is limited food and water sources available within the interior of the HMA is simply placing the blame on the burros for the existing problem: people feeding them and enticing them off-HMA for an easy meal, habituating them. Limited research has been conducted on the ecosystem, forage quality and invasive grasses of desert lands that burros habitat.  (We are adding a series about rangeland health assessments and will link it here shortly)

How can you study the impact wild horses and burros have on their environment if the environment itself has not been thoroughly studied in the first place?

Problem Solving

A thriving ecological balance must examine all public land uses and their individual impacts on resources – especially in these desert ecosystems. Arizona is home to 4 unique desert regions.

The townspeople of Oatman say they would like to see the feeding of burros restricted to areas away from the roadways.

A simple designated viewing loop in the area could provide the public with a safe environment – for both themselves and the burros – to enjoy our wonderful long eared friends. Adding a kiosk could also provide information so that visitors would leave with a better understanding and respect for these animals and the BLM who is trying to manage them in a difficult situation that continues to grow along with human encroachment in the region.

The burros will always exist in the Black Mountains so we must find a way to limit the current animal and human safety concerns while preserving these burros whose ancestors contributed so much to the present prosperity and wealth that exists in Arizona.

A follow-up aerial survey is planned for the end of the year. A survey had been planned to take place prior to the roundup, but due to unforeseen circumstances it, unfortunately, did not take place. The vast majority of roundups during the 2023 and, so far, the 2024 schedule, have not even had a census flight. BLM has just done distribution flights to find out where the animals are, not how many or the condition of the range, for the purpose of capture.

Next month a nuisance gather of 400 burros from the Lake Pleasant HMA area – where similar problems exist – will take place.

Proactive management, such as the creation of viewing loops or creation of overpasses for wildlife crossing, could be part of the issues identified for a specific herd in the Herd Management Area Plan (HMAP). An HMAP is supposed to identify and address goals and management objectives for each herd on a site-specific basis. However, there are only a handful of site specific HMAPs out of the 177 herds that BLM says they manage today. Instead, BLM skips to simply kicking the can down the road and creating removal plans.

Issues like those faced in Oatman could be addressed. Initially, there could be controversy. However, in the long run, a safer environment that could benefit both human and burros could be created and sustained.

Instead of consistently creating a broad-brush approach that perpetuates controversy at a national level, actual site-specific planning is long overdue.

Non BLM Jurisdiction, Ruidoso

A similar situation is taking place in Ruidoso, New Mexico – another tourist town where wild horses roam the communities and roadways interacting with the public and contributing to the local economy.

In 2016 a small herd of wild horses (not federally protected) in Lincoln County were taken into possession by the Livestock Board after being unlawfully trapped by a land owner. After a lengthy court battle the judge ruled the state livestock board did not have jurisdiction over the horses and they were released back into the vicinity of Ruidoso in 2018. The attraction has grown along with the herd numbers contributing to vehicle collisions and incidents of harassment of the horses.

Much like in Arizona the horses are considered to be wildlife in promotional materials, but while warning people it is illegal to feed wildlife it is typically only “recommended” to not feed, or mingle with, the horses. The Ruidoso Chamber of Commerce requests that people “Please do not feed wild horses or wildlife”, and  the village has an ordinances that reads it is “illegal to feed, touch, tease, frighten, or intentionally disturb wildlife” but it was the Police Department whom stated that “wild horses are considered wildlife”. [Section 14-21 Ordinance 2019-12].

The residents of Ruidoso have been instrumental in furthering protection for these horses. Not only have signs been posted about horses in the area and not feeding the horses but radar speed signs have also been installed where the horses are most present. For years advocates have tried to keep informative pamphlets circulating – something local government could be doing as well – and with the help of local businesses I was recently able to provide posters for their storefront windows regarding interacting with the horses.

While there are numerous ways in which the BLM and local officials can help to keep both the public, and the burros and horses, safe the private citizen also can play an active role and be instrumental in promoting change.

There are 2 objectives you can help us achieve:

We must gain actual on-range management planning to protect and preserve wild horses from rapidly expanding profit driven industries (livestock, mining, etc) and expanding recreation.

BLM does not deny that they are required by law to craft Herd Management Area Plans (HMAP) that would create goals and objectives, set data-based and transparent appropriate herd numbers, and address things like when things like livestock should be limited to protect habitat for wild horses/burros. However, BLM is arguing in court, right now in active cases, that the law simply does not say “when” actual management planning needs to take place. Instead, BLM has been masquerading “population growth suppression” (Gather-EAs) as management planning for over 40 years. The public has been denied any ability to have any say in how horses and burros are managed. Only through the HMAP process can any debate even begin.

We must gain an enforceable welfare policy, now.

Anyone that follows roundups, or watches the news, knows that enforceable welfare rules are needed, badly. We carry active litigation to demonstrate that BLM has stopped short of making their Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program (CAWP) actual policy and enforceable. An open rulemaking process must take place. Rulemaking is part of every single actualized federal policy, except for the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program. Right now, rulemaking is even taking place for exotic animals on display. You have more of a say in how a private vendor does a tour of a tiger sanctuary than you do with hw your own government, while using your tax dollars, captures and houses wild horses/burros.

There is still time to attempt to get an amendment into the current spending bill for formal rulemaking to incentivize BLM to start the process of creating a formal welfare policy.  

You can help. We made it easy: Just Click HERE

We need your help to continue to document, expose, work toward reform with lawmakers and litigate. Our wild ones deserve to live free on the range and free from abuse.

Thank you for keeping WHE on the frontline in the fight to protect and preserve our treasured wild ones.