Wild baby in the Three Rivers Complex in Arizona
A Rescue Story
What you need to know first
Burros are under threat from the Ejiao trade (trade in donkey hides for Chinese Medicine) causing a worldwide increase in an illegal trade of donkeys endangering populations.
Burros also face direct threats on U.S. soil. In the U.S. the trade in burros going to slaughter has increased. Wild burros are being rounded up off of public lands in record numbers risking driving populations down below genetic viability and placing their survival in jeopardy in the wild.
In addition, care after capture for burros is abysmal. Death rates rose to 13.8% in just six weeks after capture at one facility. They rise to over 20% in female burros (Jennies) at another facility.
Glimpse down an alley at Blue Wing burros eating (very green feed and you can smell the alfalfa) under what looks like a section of highway guardrail. Axtel, Utah, 2024
After these removals, subsidized “adoptions” and the “Sale” program burros flood the U.S. market creating a boom of kill buyers brokering burros to rescues and members of the public trying to save them from the brutal pipeline to slaughter.
The BLM Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) has bolstered the already shady horse and burro slaughter market. Kill-buyers have discovered that many people receiving the incentive funds from BLM are dumping horses and burros at auction as soon as they receive title (and in more instances than you can imagine, even before receiving title). Kill-buyers go in and bid up the price against rescues there trying to obtain BLM branded animals before they land in a kill lot. Once the kill lot broker obtains these animals, they advertise them for insanely jacked up prices and the public scrambles each week to try to purchase them before they ship off to slaughter. Sometimes another “broker/rescue” will obtain the animals from the kill lot and a second round of price gouging takes place. This leaves the public scrambling to save the lives that can be saved. It is a very sad and ugly trail.
Burros are also used for sport in the U.S. Many people do not know that burro roping is a traditional training method before ropers move on to rope cattle or horses. The “heeling donkey” is used to practice both getting the rope around the neck and the back legs and is a common sight where ropers train for rodeo. Bucking contests will also use donkeys as a sideshow.
One such roping event was scheduled to happen around Thanksgiving in Arizona. The event was cancelled after public outrage.
When advocates at Oatman Burro Rehab and Recovery Sanctuary reached out to purchase approximately 20 donkeys that were to be used at the event (and reached out to WHE team members for help), instead of a direct sale to a rescue in the same state, it set off an unbelievable chain of events.
Prices were inflated, then burros were sent to a kill buyer that shuffled them through a suspect chain of lots and brokers and questionable paperwork. Throughout the process there was continued denial that these burros were BLM burros. Eventually, purchase through a broker of some of the burros was arranged. At least 6 of these burros are BLM burros. One of them only 6 months old.
Burro hair grows differently than horses. But once the neck is shaved, we should be able to read the freezemarks and track the beginning of the journey. BLM says that they have been microchipping as well. It will take some time to sort all of this out.
It has been confirmed that the six-month old was a “sale-authority” burro. Meaning in his short 6-months of life he has been through so much… and then was considered “unadoptable” and sold and dumped at a roping event.
Our WHE team has been assisting the effort behind the scenes.
Burros with incomplete or illegible freeze marks have made their way to safety. (Someone sent us an enail saying this article is not clear if they were saved or not. We thought it was clear and apologize if any of you did not glean that from these words. Or team member helped try to negotiate, helped track and WHE contributed funds and teamwork to the purchase and they are at sanctuary)
We are honored to have played a part in this effort.
Only 6-months old and he has been through so much.
The work does not end with the “save.”
Many of you are very familiar with how the BLM Adoption Incentive Program (AIP) and Sales Program lands wild horses in danger. A data-set on burros is sorely needed and a group effort is beginning to create one.
Just looking in the eyes of these exhausted burros reflects and incredibly long and impactful journey. Several of these burros have auction tags placed on their bodies before they landed at the roping event last month.
Since last month, these burros have traveled over at least 2000 miles and back and forth over state lines.
In the coming days we will bring you a detailed account of the journey of these burros. There is so much more to this story. From the first line of defense (the fight to keep them on the range) to the last line (trying to land them in a safe place) any effort at gaining any real protection falls to the public, the community of advocacy.
We need to track back and find out where each of their stories begins. We are obtaining clear images of BLM bands and will track as far as we can. We wish these burros could talk!
Looking in their eyes? Today we can all simply celebrate teamwork and rejoice that the journey ahead for these burros has turned a corner toward a much happier ending.
Happy New Year!
End-of-year funding is critical. Please, help us continue the battle and expand our reach.
WHE has a 10K match through the end of the year to keep our team running and precedent setting litigation alive (every case we have brought to conclusion in 2024 has walked away with a desperately needed win). We must take litigation already active to conclusion and launch additional cases to protect and preserve our wild ones in 2025.
Your contributions will be doubled, dollar-for-dollar!
A SPECIAL 5K bonus match has been added just for the boots-on-the-ground reporting team! If you make your contribution a monthly contribution, your donation will be TRIPLED!