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BLM to Conduct Trio of Emergency Wild Burro Gathers

KAWC News
This formerly wild burro now lives on a local farm. In the coming weeks the BLM will collect 470 wild burros off the range for possible adoption.

The Bureau of Land Management is conducting three emergency wild burro gathers in the region.

Collection activities began the second week of August near Bullhead City and are scheduled to begin in the following weeks in the Cibola Wildlife Refuge and the Parker Strip.

Valerie Gohlke of the BLM's Colorado River district tells KAWC the gathers are in response to a string of incidents involving wild burros on state roads.

“Mostly vehicle collisions with the animals, which causes human injury. It causes damage to the vehicle, obviously, and then, of course, it causes injuries to the animals, which we are trying to avoid,” Gohlke says.

The Bureau expects to gather about 470 wild burros in a process that Gohlke calls “humane and gentle.”  She says there are no round-ups by horseback or helicopter. Because of heat and other factors, the gathers are designed to limit stress to the animals.  

“We basically just have holding areas where we put food and water and the burros just freely go in and out and eat and drink. And then we just sort of slowly start closing the gates,” she says.

Wild burros gathered from the three location will be taken to BLM Wild Horse and Burro facilities in Florence, Arizona and Ridgecrest, California, where they will be prepared for possible adoption.

Gohlke says the wild burro’s natural curiosity can lead to dangerous interactions with humans on state roadways, but their ability to habituate to people also makes them attractive as pets or farm animals.

Lou grew up in Tucson and has a long family history in the state of Arizona. He began his public radio career in 1988 at KNAU in Flagstaff as a classical music DJ and has been hooked on public radio since, transitioning to news after trying his hand at several other careers in publishing and commercial broadcasting. Lou has a degree in American Studies from Arizona State University and was KAWC's Morning Edition host for two and half years before becoming News and Operations Director.
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