Marietta

As Donkey Week draws to a close we take a moment to remember our wild burros that paid with their lives as the cost of a helicopter roundup.

Burros are hearty animals. Well suited for arid environments they can lose up to 30% of their body weight in water without negative consequences. They can regain all the water they lost after only five minutes of drinking.  Donkeys have adapted to thrive in harsh environments where food is scarce. Their digestive systems have adapted an ability to extract nutrients from fibrous, low-moisture vegetation.

Burros may be long-distance champions, but they are not athletic sprinters like horses are. The stress of a helicopter capture is simply a recipe for disaster. This stressful event begins a process that can cause immediate death from capture stress (Capture Myopathy, CM). The threat does not end with capture. Death from CM can occur days, weeks or months after the event. Wild horses can suffer CM, but burros are much more susceptible.

Only deaths that occur immediately during an active roundup are considered roundup related by BLM. Deaths from CM are rarely counted in any data-base used by BLM. If they were, BLM would have to ban the use of helicopters for burros entirely as the death rates among burros average around 14%, and in females, can rise to over 20%.

The adaptations that have helped them thrive where other grazing animals would perish places them in danger in captivity. Their diet and medical needs are really different from horses.

One deadly condition that arises from the result of stress from capture and inappropriate feeding is Hyperlipaemia, or hyperlipidemia, in donkeys is a serious metabolic condition that includes high levels of fat entering the bloodstream leading to liver damage and organ failure. This condition is even more prevalent in females, pregnant females and foals. A mother with hyperlipidemia is prone to premature birth and an inability to properly nourish her unborn and newborn babies.

This little one was never given a chance.

Our team first saw this foal (in obvious distress) on November 6 and went back November 8. We were tracking intake of some of the wild horses sent to this facility as the Triple B roundup was underway. Mares were being sent to Palomino Valley Center (public) and all stallions and any foal BLM deemed “weanable” went to the off-limits to the public facility Indian Lakes (aka Broken Arrow) in Fallon, NV.

BLM said this burro foal had been born a week prior. BLM told our team member that the foal “just had a bad mom” when she brought the foal’s distress to the attention of staff and “everything was fine; the vet looked at it.”

We offered to take the baby. Frequently told BLM the baby needed help.

But by December 2nd, after a 4 day holiday, the baby was dead.

Our investigation into the baby through Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA) show just how badly this baby, born to a very young Jenny (probably a first-time mom), was failed by the current system. (You can read the long form article HERE)

As “Donkey Week” draws to a close, we honor this young life and renew our commitment to our long-ears.

We must gain fair management on the range and protect our last remaining wild burros, a legacy of the West. BLM is trying to slam populations down to around 2,000 animals west wide in isolated and non-viable herds. BLM fails to recognize the important role burros can play in the ecosystem by creating water sources that all animals can use as they will dig to find water, creating caches, in their arid environments.

We must gain concise and enforceable welfare rules. The specific needs of burros must be recognized and BLM must create a protocol that rapidly responds to issues from capture stresses. Helicopter use must be banned for capturing burros.

Our wild horses and our precious population of wild burros must be protected. Wild burros worldwide are facing dangerously low population numbers. In the U.S. we are blessed by having an opportunity to protect our wild long-ears and we must follow-through or face the inevitable die-off of this historic animal in the wild.

All of our work is only possible with your support. 

We thank you for being a vital part of the work of WHE at this critical time.