Opposing the Sinbad Burro Roundup: Key Points to Consider

August 16, 2021

AWHC Contributor

These talking points are here for you to use as a guide for your comment on the Sinbad Wild Burro Roundup and Removal Plan. Please personalize your message as much as possible and send it to the BLM through the link above!

The plan seeks to achieve the unscientific “Appropriate” Management Level of just 50-70 wild burros on over 99,200 acres. Even at the goal of 60 burros, that’s one burro for every 1,654 acres! This range is far too low to maintain a self-sustaining, genetically viable population of wild burros in the Herd Management Area (HMA).
The plan provides for fertility control to be used to control the population growth rate of the burros in the HMA. However, the BLM admits that it does not yet fully understand the population growth rate, including mortality rates, of the burros. A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study on the herd’s population growth rate is still pending in the HMA. Those results must be released to the public for review and comment in relation to this plan before the BLM takes an action in the HMA because the population growth rate will inform how fertility control should or should not be applied to this herd.
Therefore, in relation to fertility control, if it is chosen for implementation - even after the release and review of the USGS study - BLM must consider how:
- (1) the use of these options will impact the health of the herd when the population is maintained at such a small population;
- (2) PZP has over 30 years of proven efficacy, and proven efficacy in burros, and should be the preferred tool for use in the HMA;
- (3) IUDs have not been proven humane or effective in wild, free-roaming herds, horses or burros, and should be eliminated from further analysis.
At a population of 60, within the AML, wild burros are provided just 720 Animal Unit Months (AUMs) while livestock are permitted over 3,000 AUMs to graze within the HMA. Importantly, livestock are permitted to graze in spring, a sensitive growing season. The livestock thus are grazing down all potential new growth and are then removed, leaving the burros nothing but the blame for the harm to the HMA’s forage. In short, the BLM must adjust livestock use in the HMA in order to give wild burros their fair share of the resource and livestock more of the blame they deserve.
Research shows the beneficial role wild burros play in promoting biodiversity in their environment, and how the removal of burros has been associated with species extinction in the ecosystem. The BLM has failed to adequately consider this information and new research here and failed to consider the impacts such a mass wild burro removal will have on the environment. Before the BLM moves forward with its plan for the Sinbad burros, it must adequately analyze and apply this new scientific research. Chances are that once the agency does, the BLM will find ample reason for the Plan to significantly change.
If removals must occur within the HMA, they should be done exclusively through bait-trapping and over time, to meet adoption demand. Burros react differently than horses to helicopter removals, causing higher risk of injury and harm to the animals. BLM must only remove burros with bait trapping if removals are chosen in this plan.

Be sure to submit your comments by September 3, 2021!