A few days of a burro advocate’s journey: Laurie Ford

I recently spoke at the National Wild Horse and Burro Conference about the challenges our wild burros are facing both on and off the range. While challenges for burros are relatively minimal while they are living free and wild, these threats escalate from the moment of capture and can pose an immediate risk to their behavioral and physical health. Unfortunately, human decisions and actions play a fundamental role in that transition.

It was encouraging to see so many advocates at the conference taking a genuine interest in burros. As wild burro advocates, we often feel a bit overlooked, just like the burros themselves are. Our founder was the first speaker of the day and reminded everyone not to shorthand the law when we speak; it is not the “Wild Horse Act,” it is the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

After the conference, I headed down to the remote, very primitive Tassi–Gold Butte HMA/HA, located in the northwestern Mojave Desert—an area not for the faint of heart.

The landscape is the kind of place most people imagine when they think of the desert. Traveling alone through this country feels like moving through an old western movie, where you might come across a solitary gunfighter on the run from the law. It is a remote throwback in time, but the landscape is not “black and white”; it is filled with rugged color and resilient life.

Despite the fact that very few people, including BLM personnel, ever see the burros who inhabit this region, it has been decided that the population will be zeroed out based on decades-old documents claiming burros could not co-exist with the endangered Mojave Desert tortoise.

WHE has filed an administrative appeal to challenge this decision—a daunting battle when dealing with an agency that has little knowledge of burro behavior or forage use, both of which are key to determining the carrying capacity of their designated habitat and the AML. We will discuss those details in a future article, as that is not the primary focus of this piece.

Tassi

It was on World Donkey Day, during Burro Awareness Week, that I found myself forced to shift focus and fight to preserve and protect burros not only on the range, but at home—just a stone’s throw from where I live in New Mexico.

A neighbor, who already had her hands full caring for a number of other animals, reached out to me for help with two burros she had agreed to bring home. We developed a plan together and set the wheels in motion to secure the necessary veterinarian and hauling paperwork and arrange transport to a Colorado rescue that had the capacity to provide the long-term care they needed. As many people know, finding a reputable rescue with both space and time to accept two new burros is nothing short of a miracle.

When you take in a burro with a long and complicated past, there is a high probability that they will arrive with a fair amount of “baggage.” Many have endured years of improper or limited care, minimal handling, isolation, or other stressors that leave lasting trauma in their lives. This does not mean they were not loved by their previous owner. It means that the deficits in their care create a serious “rehoming” challenge, and very few potential new homes are realistically equipped to take that on.

These two burros—a jenny and a gelding—came from just such a situation. They had received adoring love and care but did not appear to have had much regular handling. That did not mean they were unwilling to accept a treat or a good scratch on the forehead; it meant they were not receptive to the kind of low-stress handling required for basic farrier and veterinary care. In the past, the jenny had been used as a livestock guardian and was clearly still traumatized, something some burros never fully recover from. She was untouchable, which is a major problem when it comes to providing medical and farrier treatment. She also had a skin disorder on her legs that could not be treated without proper equipment to safely confine her.

When you choose to obtain burros, especially those with special or complex needs, you must have a well-informed plan and the means to carry it out. This is particularly true when you live in a remote area, such as Glenwood, where you must be able to provide basic donkey husbandry in a safe, low-stress manner because professional help is not readily available.

This is not about how much you love the animal or what your best intentions may be. It is about recognizing that rehabilitation and treatment are delicate processes that require experience and appropriate tools—care that might not be challenging under normal circumstances but becomes very difficult when the animal’s past trauma, your location, and limited resources collide.

Sometimes we all have to accept that our role is simply to be the doorway to a better-suited home, rather than keeping an animal we cannot fully provide for. Rescue is about the animals, not us. Letting go does not mean we have failed. It means we love enough to put the animal’s needs first.

In 2020, I found myself facing just such a decision—one where I had to choose between what my emotions wanted and what was best for two jennies and their babies.

The year before, I had acquired three sale-authority jennies from the U.S. Forest Service who had been removed from the Kaibab National Forest, supposedly ages 12, 15, and 18. When my veterinarian examined them, all turned out to be under 10, and two were pregnant.

In May 2020, the two jennies, Carlotta and Olivia, gave birth one week apart. A month later, as I was facing a devastating personal crisis, I had to confront the reality that, under those circumstances, I would struggle to provide the level of care these two mothers and their foals needed. I could continue to provide food and shelter, but deep down I knew that was not enough. I made the difficult decision to surrender them to a rescue where I knew they would receive the long-term care they deserved, provided by qualified people. Sometimes we are not fortunate enough to have such an option, and I considered myself extremely lucky.

Mr K and Braveheart

I kept the third jenny, Braveheart, who is still with me today.

When the foals, Breda and Prince, were old enough, I tearfully said goodbye as the little family of four went to Longhopes Donkey Rescue. There, they did indeed receive the level of care I could not have provided.

Austin and Prince

Prince, after being weaned and castrated, became fast friends with Austin, and the two were eventually adopted by a loving family. Breda, heartbreakingly, did not survive. She developed a mysterious illness and, even after time at the Denver Veterinary Hospital and thousands of dollars in care, no cause for her death was ever identified. What made this especially painful was that it occurred at the height of the COVID pandemic, so Longhopes staff could not be with her in the hospital, though her mother could. Whether her illness was related to the stress her jenny experienced during removal will likely never be known.

Grannies now to minis

Olivia and Carlotta were recently adopted together to be “grannies” for a small herd of miniatures.

Around 2022, once my life had stabilized, I was again able to open my door to burros in need. A burro from the same Kaibab herd as Braveheart—rounded up at the same time—came to live with us when his owner could no longer care for him. Even after three years, Braveheart and Mr. K recognized one another immediately and have been inseparable ever since.

Ricky also came to live with us after a local rescue contacted me about a burro and a horse who had spent the last decade or so alone in a field. Ricky was untouchable, and it took months before I could handle him comfortably, in a way that was low-stress for both of us.

I currently share my life with nine burros and a horse. While I may have room for more, I know my limits and the point at which I would no longer be able to provide the level of care they deserve. The inability to set and respect those limits is a dangerous thing—for animals and humans alike.

Wild in Tassi-Gold Butte where BLM plans to zero them out

Once I settled back in at home, it was time to shift my attention again and rejoin the WHE team’s efforts to dig deeper into Tassi–Gold Butte and other vulnerable burro HMAs. We are preparing to defend them against removal plans that would reduce the national wild burro population to just over 2,000 animals.

The accelerated sales program continues to move wild burros out of holding for as little as 25 dollars, clearing pens to make room for more removals. As a result, more burros land precariously at auctions, where they can easily end up in the hands of kill buyers. This pipeline operates every single day. (The Ejiao trade is a big part of this risk, take action HERE)

To this day, there are still no burro-specific standards for how AMLs are set or how burros are treated and cared for during and after capture. This gap leads to unnecessary suffering. (Learn more and take action HERE)

Burros need us in so many different ways. If your home is not the right place to keep a burro in need, you can still support those who can provide that care. If burros hold your heart, there are countless ways to help. Advocacy is not “one size fits all,” and you are not a failure if you cannot adopt, if you must rehome a burro you cannot fully provide for, or if you cannot travel to remote ranges like Tassi.

Love, at its core, is the willingness to see clearly—ourselves, our limits, and the animals who depend on us. It is the courage to ask for help, to pass the lead rope to steadier hands when that is what’s best, and to stand shoulder to shoulder in community so no one carries the weight alone. Each of us has a place in this work. Whether you are hiking into distant desert country, mucking out a pen at a rescue, donating a few dollars, or simply sharing a story that opens someone else’s heart, you are part of a living circle of care.

Together, we can make sure that burros—on the range, in holding, and in our backyards—are seen, valued, and protected for who they are.        

We need your support to keep our teams engaging lawmakers, our team fighting in the court, our team ready to run the roundup schedule. Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support.

You can also “show your burro love” and support our work through the purchase of our limited edition shirts. These shirts were inspired by a Mother’s Love. At checkout you can also add a contribution if you choose to. All proceeds support our fight at Tassi and in other HMAs where our wild ones are threatened.

Just click the image to order. This design is offered for only 8 more days and is available in 3 different adult t-shirts, a children’s shirt,  2 sweatshirts and a tank top for the summer.