Video: Battle with the BLM over Burros

Straight from the Horse's Heart

(From June)

Source: By Lisa Myers and Michael Austin of NBC News

BLM defends the operations as humane – your tax dollars at work

Warning: Some viewers may find the video content to be extremely disturbing

Public criticism of roundups is not limited to wild horses. The Bureau of Land Management also conducts annual “gather” operations to remove “excess” wild burros from herd areas in the West.

In this video, advocates for the wild burros document “aggressive” roundup practices, including a helicopter hitting and flipping over a burro in the California desert in 2009 and a BLM contract wrangler manhandling a reluctant burro during a 2008 roundup in Arizona.

As with the wild horse roundups, the BLM defends the operations as humane and says that incidents such as these are both isolated and contrary to its contractor guidelines.

The BLM says there are about 5,800 wild burros living in the wild, mostly in Arizona, Nevada and California, but many advocates believe the wild burro population is much smaller and that burro roundups are unnecessary.

Related Articles

• 2 Million Bucks: BLM is Mismanaging Wild Horses and Burros – ‘DOINK’(rtfitchauthor.com)
• Wild Horse and Burro Advocates Say Enough is Enough to the BLM’s Continued Stampede Tactics (rtfitchauthor.com)
• Citizen Report: Wild Horses Notably Absent from California Herd Area After BLM Roundup and Fire (rtfitchauthor.com)
• BLM Whines in Response to Documented Abuse and Neglect in Mismanaging US Wild Horses and Burros (rtfitchauthor.com)