The Advisory Board meetings are always a good jump point to discuss various aspects of the Wild Horse and Burro Programs of BLM and USFS. The board meetings are a public exchange with a board that usually projects agency agenda.

We presented an initial overview reaction piece yesterday and stated we would feature commentary from team members this week on specific subjects.

WHE team member Laurie Ford reflects on the meeting and burros.

Laurie’s comments to the board

Another BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting has concluded and despite a previous 2020 recommendation that BLM identify the differences between horses and burros, and an excellent presentation by Dr. Amy McLean, PhD, outlining and discussing so many of these differences, the topic was, once again, not addressed any further by the board.

As my focus remains on the burros, I once again, voiced my concerns – backed with data – regarding the large number of healthy pregnant burro jennies dying shortly after capture – a direct result of the mental and physical stress experienced during and after a roundup.

These capture related stressors lead to both hyperlipidemia and Capture Myopathy (CM) – a cause of morbidity widely recognized in the wildlife world – damaging organs and muscles that can result in fatal organ failure, weakened muscles and heart attacks. While hyperlipidemia may get listed as a cause of death capture myopathy is never acknowledged. Because necropsies are needed for a definitive diagnosis the cause of death may be listed as foaling complications, lameness, colic, old age, pre-existing, other or simply found dead (a common cause listed by adopters when reporting a death).

Burros are very susceptible to trauma and stress from capture, transport, separation and the changes in their environment that can easily lead to hyperlipidemia – the main cause of death in pregnant jennies. Hyperlipidemia can also arise in response to capture myopathy which, on its own, can be fatal as well for any burro.

As burros are not as athletic as horses – often freezing, rather than fleeing in response to an event -the physical stress of a roundup can initiate capture myopathy. During helicopter roundups they are driven long distances and many are aggressively pursued and roped by wranglers causing them to alter the normal intensity of their natural exercise. Afterwards they are exhausted and may display signs of lameness or a pulled ligament (which can be grounds for being euthanized at trap or shortly following in holding).

Both illnesses (hyperlipidemia, CM)  can manifest and cause death well after the initial event – often triggered by further stress or another illness.

I personally rescued a wild burro who got an eye infection and, despite being treated with antibiotics, he dropped dead right in front of my eyes. My vet cited a heart attack as the cause.

Both hyperlipidemia and capture myopathy deaths are gather related and should be recorded as such in the database and be reflected in gather mortality statistics.

Marietta

When discussing wildlife conservation, capture myopathy – a malignant outcome of stress – is considered the main cause for most deaths during and after capture and translocation of the animal. 

Because the wildlife world recognizes these capture myopathy deaths, and the BLM does not when it comes to wild horses and burros, BLM can continue to claim the following: “The total rate of gather related mortalities was 1.2%, but the majority of those deaths were attributable to euthanasia of animals with pre-existing conditions. These rates are lower than the majority of capture operations for elk, deer, and other native wildlife.”

During last years board meeting I shared the 6.7 % death rate of jennies from hyperlipidemia that occurred within approximately 30 days of capture after the 2022 Blue Wing Complex roundup. This year I shared the data obtained from the 2024 Blue Wing Complex roundup which reflected a 100% increase to 12.24% of captured jennies dying from hyperlipidemia. When BLM compares burros deaths to “elk, deer, and other native wildlife,” death from capture stress related illness is included in the statistic, but not in the statistic for horses and burros.

FOIAs have not only revealed the growing number of burro deaths jennies but also failures in the adoption and sales program – a severity commenters tried to impress upon the board.

One such FOIA provided 40 adoption applications who never had all (or some of) their burros titled. Half of these applicants adopted 1 or 2 burros totaling 23 with only 2 ever being titled. The other half adopted 3 or 4 burros totaling 79 with only 24 ever being titled and 19 being reported dead. Many were past adopters having been reapproved despite a history of annual adoptions of the max allowed, having untitled animals on the property, reporting dead burros, providing photos showing burros in poor condition, and few compliance checks.

It is well known that both burros and horses are being adopted/purchased and ending up in a growing industry where killbuyers, using brokers, are then selling them online to unsuspecting buyers who mistakenly believe they are saving the animal from slaughter.

Other burro specific concerns arose throughout the meeting.

BLM is not differentiating between horses and burros when highlighting their off-range reports. These reports should display separate horse and burro data – especially since there are no recognized off-range pastures for burros.

Five new public-private partnership agreements were discussed – not one was specific to burros.

The only place “burro” appeared under BLM’s Current Research Projects (funded grants provided by BLM) was horse and burro genetic monitoring.

No BLM funded research has been approved for the role burros play in the ecosystem – mainly the digging of wells for water. The 1982 Big Sandy – located in Arizona – HMAP acknowledged burros digging numerous wells used by all wildlife and birds and cited that contaminated river water was found to be the major reason.

Neither the board, nor the BLM, have provided any information or results pertaining to the HSUS burro fertility control and placement “Platero Project” which concluded years ago.

No BLM funding was provided for mountain lion predation despite the presence of this predation during the Pop Equus discussion where it was stated that up to 50% of foals have been taken by lions. Although many HMAs – especially burros – have a lion population, but lion predation has not been included as a parameter input in the Pop Equus model.

A parameter input must be provided to account for foals born in holding as they were initially included in the prior year’s estimate as a “foal yet to be born”. Captured foal numbers are subtracted from the prior year’s population when estimating the current year’s population on 3/1.

To the dismay of burro lovers like myself, both BLM and the Advisory Board continue to ignore any appropriate discussion or recommendations to improve management.

Wild horses also suffer from capture stress.

Our legal team is working on an update. Our team has been working hard through the holiday season and into the new year.

We have follow-ups on the two court wins last year to protect two other herds. We also have an update on the case to preserve the historic Stone Cabin/Saulsbury herds, the case against the denial of wild horse advocates to address habitat and resource loss from mining, the filing against the Winnemucca facility, the ongoing lawsuit to protect the Antelope and Triple B Complexes (the largest in the nation) and more, including another case focused on wild burros, coming soon.

In 2024, meeting with BLM leadership in DC, it was confirmed that the agency itself sees any change (using their words) as “litigation driven only.” In other words, they are not going to change unless we sue. That means we must work hard to expand this critical arm of WHE if we hope to achieve any real reform.

Our team is working hard in the field and in the courts. Without your support, none of our work is possible. Thank you for keeping WHE running for our wild ones!