Burros are among my favorite of the animals residing at our Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, with their long ears and friendly stares. We have a couple hundred of rescued burros there, and visitors seem to have a special fascination with them, too. As with all of the animals at the ranch, they've landed there because of some tale of woe - in most instances, because the burros have gotten a raw deal from the federal government, which manages, or mismanages, their populations on the vast reaches of public lands in the West.

Under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, the federal government, through the Bureau of Land Management, is mandated to maintain populations of wild horses and burros in the 11 western states where they live. There are only about 40,000 wild horses and only 8,000 burros, and three quarters of the horses are in just two states - Nevada and Wyoming. The remaining states have relatively small populations, typically with 3,000 or fewer animals. There are millions of cattle and sheep on those federal lands, yet ranchers complain of too many wild equids.

The government has been rounding up and removing horses and burros, ostensibly to control these wild populations and minimize their ecological impact. In the process, the feds have been building a captive equine population now in the tens of thousands, at short-term and long-term holding facilities. Just last week, the BLM released new information that its personnel and contractors would round up nearly 2,400 more wild horses and burros this year. The cost of the round ups and housing and feeding the animals is now cannibalizing about two-thirds of the budget for the program, which has been widely regarded through the years as a case study of mismanagement.

For years, we have pressed the Bureau of Land Management, which runs the program, to focus instead on fertility programs to manage populations - a solution that the National Academy of Sciences also recommended in a report commissioned by the BLM. The BLM has been slow to implement the recommendations of the NAS.

Now, in what can only be described as a case example of poor decision-making, BLM is undertaking a pilot program with the Department of Defense and Heifer International and intends to allow the transport of 100 burros to residents in Guatemala, for use as working animals. While burros have been traditionally used for this purpose, this use is at odds with the provisions of WFHBA, which requires that the BLM's first priority has to be the humane treatment of wild burros in their care.

We are not insensitive to the difficult and challenging lives of people and animals in Guatemala and other developing countries, and we acknowledge the value and importance of working animals worldwide. Through Humane Society International (HSI) and the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Program (HSVMA) affiliates, we have a robust and proactive assistance program that helps provide veterinary care and other resources in these countries. But Guatemala has burros of its own, and does not need shipments of burros compliments of the BLM - a practice that simply relieves pressure on BLM to revamp its program and protect our nation's heritage of responsibly managing wild horses and burros.

We do work with BLM, through our Platero Project, to adopt out burros to suitable owners. So far this year we have placed 190 burros and we remain committed to getting more burros placed in good, local homes. Ultimately though, the solution must be on-the-ground management through fertility control, to obviate the costly and dangerous round-ups and removals and to prevent the population boom of horses and burros in captive holding facilities.

Source: The Humane Society of the United States

TAKE ACTION >>> Guatemala has burros of its own and does not need shipments of burros from the United States. Contact BLM now to keep our nation's wild burros on American soil. 

June 10, 2014, Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) introduced legislation that would give states and Indian Tribes the option to take over the management of wild horses and burros. The Wild Horse Oversight Act of 2014 would preserve all protections under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, and simply allow states to implement horse and burro management plans that address the specific needs of their own state.

“The federal government has never been able to properly manage the horses and burros in the west,” Stewart said. “Every state faces different challenges, which is why it’s important that they have the ability to manage their own wildlife.”

In the 43 years that the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act has been in place, the ranges have been overused, pushing cattle off the ranges and leading to the destruction of important habitat for native species.

“States and tribes already successfully manage large quantities of wildlife within their borders,” Stewart said. “If horses and burros were under that same jurisdiction, I’m confident that new ideas and opportunities would be developed to manage the herds more successfully than the federal government.”

This bill would allow states to form cooperative agreements to manage herds that cross over borders, and the federal government would continue to inventory the horses and burros to ensure that the population numbers as prescribed by the 1971 Act are maintained.

“In an era of fiscal crisis, the federal government just doesn’t have the money to manage these programs.”

For the full text of the bill, click here.

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WASHINGTON– Today, U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) offered an amendment to the Sportsmen’s bill to provide for the responsible management of the wild-horse population around Corolla, North Carolina and the Outer Banks. The Burr amendment is the same as HR. 126, the Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives on June 3, 2013.

“The Corolla wild horses are one of the many natural treasures of our state, and people travel from across North Carolina and the country to witness these wild horses in their natural habitat,” said Senator Richard Burr. “I am proud to introduce this amendment that will provide for the care and management of these wild-roaming horses and give local organizations and authorities the tools they need to manage these horses without excessive federal involvement. We have waited far too long for action on this issue, so I hope Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will finally allow a vote on my amendment --protecting the Corolla horses is important to sportsmen and all who love wildlife.”

The Burr amendment would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the State of North Carolina, Currituck County and the Corolla Wild Horse Fund to craft a new management plan to care for the wild horses that inhabit the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The plan would allow the herd t o grow to the size found by equine scientists to be necessary to maintain genetic viability – between 110 and 130 horses.

The Corolla wild horses are unique to North Carolina and do not exist anywhere else in the world. Their lineage can be traced back to the arrival of Spanish explorers on the Outer Banks in the 16th century. They are Colonial Spanish mustangs that have survived in the wild for the last four centuries and now roam across Currituck County, North Carolina.

This legislation is supported by The Humane Society and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

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SALT LAKE CITY — Rural Utah leaders do not want a Cliven Bundy-style showdown with the Bureau of Land Management so they are rustling up allies and taking their fight to Washington, D.C., and New Orleans to put control of wild horses in the hands of the states.

"We don't want this to turn out to be anything like the Cliven Bundy deal. Just because the BLM can break the law does not mean we can break the law," said Beaver County Commissioner Mark Whitney. "Two wrongs don't make a right. … We are trying to take the high road on this."

Whitney said they want to avoid an armed showdown with the agency like this past April in Nevada, where Bundy ignored court orders to remove his cattle or pay grazing fees.

With that in mind, Beaver and Iron counties have backed off their threats to round up excess wild horses from the southern Utah range officials assert has been denuded of vegetation. Instead, Whitney and Iron County Commissioner Dave Miller floated and got unanimous approval of a resolution that takes their fight to the National Association of Counties meeting later this month in New Orleans.

Members of the Utah Association of Counties endorsed a resolution that calls for the management of wild horse and burro populations be turned over to the states. That same resolution will come up for possible action at the national level.

"The BLM does not have the right or the setup to be in wild horse management," Whitney said. "Those animals need to be turned over to be managed by the state Division of Wildlife Resources just like any other animal — and that includes managing them to appropriate management levels and for disposal."

A lawsuit filed by the Western Rangeland Conservation Association contends there are more than 350 horses in eight distinct herd areas above what the BLM says is "appropriate" for the region.

The BLM Utah's numbers show there are an estimated 3,245 wild horses and burros in the state when management levels call for 1,956. Strapped resources, the rate of reproduction and lukewarm adoption rates have left state holding pens also bulging, mirroring a national situation with overflowing holding corrals.

Mark Ward, senior policy analyst and counsel with the Utah Association of Counties, said something simply has to give.

"It is a hopeless situation the way the feds are managing it," Ward said. "They do not have room to store them, they are dying of overpopulation, and there is no end in sight to the explosive growth. They have no natural predators. The only way to manage them is through auction and euthanasia."

Wild horse advocates insist the animal has been made the "scapegoat" for range mismanagement and overgrazing by cattle — and the numbers are stacked unfairly against wild horses and burros.

The counties and ranchers contend they have made or are making dramatic reductions in the number of livestock allowed on public ranges because the wild horse populations aren't being controlled.

"The number of cows on the range are strictly managed and strictly curtailed from year to year and from season to season," Ward said. "The BLM conservation officer is in constant contact and checking conditions with each permittee, but you have none of that with the horse management."

Both Ward and Whitney said the hope is to get legislation passed that would remove congressional oversight of wild horse and burro management in the United States. Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, is planning to unveil legislation to that effect next week.

In New Orleans, Whitney said he and Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock plan to introduce joint resolutions in separate committees on agriculture and public lands regarding the wild horse issue.

"We feel like if we are working through Stewart's office and with the BLM in Washington, D.C., we can get this resolved without a lot of tension involved," Whitney said.

Ward added another goal is to educate the public about the widespread nature of the Western states' complaints over the BLM's management of wild horses.

"I was at a meeting in May in Anchorage where this committee was formed, and it was the hot (topic)," he said. "If anybody thinks this is a Utah-driven issue, we are just jumping on the train, trying to keep up the best we can. It is West-wide, and there is anger and frustration from all over the West."

The BLM is planning an emergency gather in the Blawn Wash area in late July and is working through an environmental analysis on a plan to remove 700 wild horses over six to 10 years from Iron and Beaver counties.

Source: The Desert News, by Amy Joi O'Donoghue