How Can the Government Remove Wild Burros Without Adequate Knowledge?
By Laurie Ford, Volunteer Field Representative
For years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has acknowledged the limited knowledge about the populations of wild burros they manage. Existing survey methods and analyses may not provide accurate and precise population size estimates. Despite this, the BLM has proceeded with aggressive helicopter roundups, planning to remove 3,094 burros from five Herd Management Areas (HMAs) between April and August. Their rationale is that almost all wild burros can be removed from the wild and placed into private care.
What makes this decision especially appalling is that valuable new information, acquired at a cost of nearly 11 million dollars, was available to provide a new foundation in wild burro management.
Missed Opportunity
In 2015, the BLM discussed plans for a five-year study of burro demographics, to be carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey's Fort Collins Science Center and Colorado State University. The study was expected to provide crucial data for future management decisions due to the current lack of data on wild burros.
Accurate data is crucial for managing wild horses and burros, forming the foundation for estimates that determine capture and removal numbers. These numbers, obtained through surveys and models, are used in environmental assessments and gather plans. A single error can have devastating consequences.
The 2013 National Academy of Science study, Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, found that BLM management decisions were not based on science, and population estimates in HMAs were unsubstantiated. The NAS highlighted flaws in methodology and documentation, leading to subjective judgments about population counts and growth rates.
In 2016, a USGS study was integrated with a roundup of the Sinbad Wild Burro HMA to test new methods for counting burros. After capturing 236 burros, DNA samples were taken, and 103 were returned to the range, including 20 jennies fitted with timed release radio collars. These collars were intended to fall off before the batteries expired in five years. The study aimed to examine resource and habitat selection, breeding behavior, genealogy, and social behavior of burros.
The Roundups
Most roundups this year are conducted by helicopters rather than traditional bait and trap methods. Burros tend to freeze or scatter when chased, so wranglers rope any burros that cannot be driven into the trap by the helicopter.
Stress from roundups can reactivate dormant infections like the herpes virus, further complicated by secondary bacterial infections. The immune systems of burros are already compromised due to fragmented habitats, reduced populations, and diminishing gene pools, making them more susceptible to disease.
During the 2016 Sinbad burro roundup, 25 burros died mysteriously, with an uncommon Asinine herpes virus and chronic viral pneumonia identified as potential causes. Five additional burros were found dead on the range, but the time of death was not disclosed. Was the death of the Sinbad burros due to stress reactivating these viruses?
In May 2022, six years after the USGS study began, the Sinbad wild burro roundup quickly turned from a helicopter roundup to a roping event amid a multitude of helicopters, trucks, trailers, wranglers, BLM personnel, and local law enforcement. Meanwhile, a constant stream of campers and visitors traversed the landscape blamed for "heavy utilization" by burros.
The gather plan called to remove 278–300 of the estimated population of 328 and treat up to 20 jennies with Gonacon fertility control before returning them to the range. After six days, only 153 burros were captured, including 11 foals and three jennies still wearing the 2016 radio collars. One burro died after falling and injuring his spinal cord.
Because they failed to reach the capture quota, no jennies were treated with Gonacon, a fertility control never used on wild burros before. If the BLM had succeeded in their original plan, the Sinbad burros would have been at high risk of genetic damage.
Reducing the herd to an AML of 50 would decrease Utah's burro population to around 171, barely over the number required to preserve genetic variability within a single herd, according to Dr. Gus Cothran, a leader in equine population genetics.
If the intention was to destroy the gene pool unique to the Sinbad burros, why was their genealogy included in the study? Dr. Cothran stated that the Sinbad burro population had its greatest similarity with the Poitou donkey among domestic breeds.
As burro populations globally plummet due to the Ejio trade in China, the BLM aims to reduce the national number of burros to 2,900. This number was determined before the conclusion of the USGS study, which was meant to reevaluate AML.
In 2013, when the national wild burro population was 5,842, the NAS report noted that BLM "may need to assess whether the AMLs set for burros can sustain a genetically healthy total population."
The USGS study of resource and habitat selection had the potential to shed new light on BLM's claims of overpopulation and heavy use by burros in areas also used by humans, vehicles, and livestock. If the BLM's goal is a thriving ecological balance, the impact of these other uses must be considered along with new research validating the valuable contributions burros make to the ecosystem.
Finally, the release of a USGS behavior manuscript on the social behavior and groupings of burros in the Sinbad HMA seems pointless after both have been almost destroyed by the recent roundup.
The day after the Sinbad roundup ended, I hiked the area where a burro's death took place. I found the spot and the dead burro, devastated because I knew his death had been for nothing.
The BLM plans to return and trap the remaining "excess" Sinbad burros at a later date. That is, if they can find them.