ShareThisFederal officials plan next month to round up and trap 130 or more wild burros that roam in and around Death Valley National Park and the Army's Fort Irwin, part of a longtime effort to clear the animals from most government land in Southern California deserts.
Wild horse and burro advocates say the animals should be left alone.
A U.S. Bureau of Land Management team plans to herd the animals with helicopters and trap additional burros at a spring, said Alex Neibergs, a wild horse and burro specialist for the agency, during a public meeting this week in Barstow.
Burros have roamed California deserts since miners used them in the region more than 150 years ago. Federal officials say the burros are a nuisance in the Death Valley and Fort Irwin areas because they use food and water needed by native wildlife, trample creek beds and spring areas, and stray onto Army training grounds.
Federal land-use plans dating to the 1980s call for no burros in Death Valley and BLM-managed land west of the park, Neibergs said. The plans envision wild burro herds only in two areas, both near the Colorado River.
The animals captured next month will be taken to federal corrals just outside of Ridgecrest and prepared for adoption.
Wild horse and burro advocates say the periodic federal roundups are cruel because some animals are injured or killed, and young animals get separated from their mothers.
Linda Lee, of Costa Mesa, brought a poster board display to the Barstow meeting that featured photographs of dead and injured horses and burros that she said were victims of BLM roundups.
Mickey Quillman, the BLM's Barstow area resources manager, denied Lee's request to display the photos at the meeting, held at a BLM field office, but said he would review digital copies of the pictures later.
Diana Chontos, who shelters 216 burros at her sanctuary in Olancha, disputed the government contention that the burros are a problem.
"It's just nonsense," she said. "They aren't harming a darn thing. The Mojave Desert is a unique place, and burros are a part of it."
Neibergs acknowledged that some "animals may be injured and may have to be put down." But, he added, "We conduct these as humanely as possible."
Use of a "water bait trap" results in fewer injuries, he said.
The trap planned next month would consist of temporary steel-pipe fencing set up around Owl Hole Spring, a water source used by burros and other animals on land between Fort Irwin and Death Valley. Burros enter the trap through a "trigger gate" but cannot get out.
The BLM hopes to trap 30 burros at the spring but must first complete an environmental analysis, Neibergs said.
Another 100 or more burros would be rounded up with helicopters on the Panamint and Slate ranges west of Death Valley and, if need be, parts of Fort Irwin, Neibergs said.
Reach David Danelski at ddanelski(at)PE.com . For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
