May, 2011 was Burro Awareness Month for the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (on Facebook: AWHPC). These folks have long been documenting Bureau of Land Management (BLM) roundups of wild horses, of which there are many more roaming the western USA than there are wild burros. Now it’s time to showcase the other iconic wild equid of the American West -- the sturdy burros with the long ears and amazing great brays. These are the ones who learned to inhabit the most inhospitable areas after they were abandoned by prospectors who brought them out there to carry burdens needed in searching for precious ore and metals.
Some of you may be curious to know what a woman in a wheelchair has to do with wild burros or mustangs. Easy. A once wild burro shared my life for nearly 16 years. If you’re looking to understand the western US from some other part of North America or the world, taking an interest in wild equines of the area can lead to a decent education on issues facing the region. Water, grazing, land use, ranching, vanishing wildlife and let’s not forget climate change. Bring in the role of the BLM, the National Park Service, the Forest Service, throw in a philanthropic billionaire and a lot of little folks like me and the plot gets thick enough for Sherlock Holmes.
There are people who devote their lives to bettering the plight of burros both wild and domestic in a dramatic way. There is Mark Meyers of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, a handsome giant of a man who'll head out of his Texas headquarters with a truck packed with good herding dogs when he hears of burros in distress, at a day's notice. To look at him and to hear of his work wrangling the untamed longears into his trailer from whatever life threatening situation he is removing them from, you might not guess that this is a man overcoming some health challenges. He has had a goal of building a network of donkey sanctuaries in the US. Great Britain has its wonderful Donkey Sanctuary, spread across numerous facilities and a force in other European countries -- a number of which have their own donkey rescues. Mark's vision has been to set American donkeys on the same path even though this country is so many times larger than the UK. May he be blessed with strength, health, good helpers, and adequate funding! Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
[Note: On May 11, Dr. Elisabeth Svendson, MBE, founder of Britain's Donkey Sanctuary, passed away at the age of 81. The announcement is here.]
Saving America’s Mustangs, founded by Madeleine Pickens (with the support of her husband, T. Boone Pickens) is working hard at many levels towards creating a permanent refuge for the wild ones on a large ranch in Nevada. The high profile presence of Ms. Pickens in this thorny issue has brought greatly needed attention to the plight of wild horses and burros as well as a much greater awareness. Not to mention the wonderful, interactive wild horse refuge she is slowly setting up at her Spruce Ranch complex in Nevada. Eventually this will be open to the public -- unlike the BLM's current holding pens. Thank you, Ma'am! Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Diana Chontos has been rescuing wild burros, especially from around the Death Valley area, for many years. She now operates her Wild Burro Rescue and Preservation Project from near Olancha, California.
A basic history and the place to discover exactly why a major wild horse group is honoring wild burros this month is: Burro Awareness: Celebrating & Learning about These Steadfast Desert Survivors
In fact, there are various organizations working on the problem, as a web search will show you. Over the years I've come to understand there is way more to the issue than meets the eye. I go out on a thin limb to say that lousy animal husbandry is one crux of the problem, including the issue of too many beef animals being allowed loose on government land. And let's not forget that as human caretakers of the land and all its creatures, far more will be gained, better decisions made, by consulting with those whose opinions differ from our own than by stubborn insistence that a particular view is the correct one. Plus it is a mistake to sit back and expect "the government" to sort this issue out. Speak your mind to your congressional delegation, let the Bureau of Land Management hear your thoughts, or the big lobbies will push through decisions without a contest.
"To blessed animals the utmost kindness must be shown." ~Baha'i Writings
There are a few photos of my donkeys, burros I met soon after their capture at Death Valley in 1998, and a friend training his jenny to pull on the Longear Photos page. Above's a sketch I did in the mid 1990s of Gigi, Chipper and Jasper.
Reading Recommendations
Along the Back Roads of Yesterday, by my friend, Oris George. Oris shares comedic and serious adventures while he was growing up on a western farm alongside working donkeys and mules. In fact, he still does share these things! Check out his website and see for yourself. Not my fault if you don't come away smiling.
Another recent book about burros doing what they do so well -- packing -- and so unevenly -- racing -- is Wild Burro Tales: Thirty Years of Haulin' Ass, by Hal Walters. Check out his blog, Hardscrabble Times. Note -- for the humans involved in pack burro racing, it's an endurance sport, certainly.
For a European as well as an intellectual view of "What Can I Do with a Donkey?" check out Andy Merrifield's The Wisdom of Donkeys. This is a book for a thinking person, my favorite in what I'll call the traveling donkey genre. Something Robert Louis Stevenson started long ago. It is the kind of book that almost makes you want to be the person writing it. Or at least to be there with him and Gribouille.
