200 wild burros in Imperial Refuge to be moved
YUMA — At the beginning of August, the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management will begin conducting the transfer of about 200 wild burros to the Florence Wild Horse and Burro Training and Off-Range Corral in Florence, Ariz.
According to a statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the burros will start being rounded up on Aug. 2 using “corral traps.” The process will continue for several weeks until the 200 burros are captured.
“The refuge may experience temporary closures to ensure public safety and the safety of the burros,” said David Zabriskie, manager of the Imperial Wildlife Refuge, in the statement.
The transfer of burros is taking place, in part, due to the threat that they pose to endangered species on the wildlife refuge, according to Zabriskie.
“The habitat on the refuge supports threatened and endangered species,” he said. “And the burros actually trample
it or eat the habitat.”
The Imperial Wildlife Refuge is home to a number of species that are negatively impacted by wild burros, including the Mule Deer, which, according to Zabriskie, feeds on the same vegetation that burros do.
“So there’s native animals out here that they’re directly competing against,” he said.
Zabriskie also said that the burros breed “prolifically.” According to him, the refuge can feasibly support 160 of the animals, and estimates from five years ago put the population around 800.
“It’s actually higher than that now, because that’s five years of breeding,” Zabriskie said, “...so just off of what I’ve seen here and talking with folks, I’m pretty sure that number is closer to 1,000 to 1,200.”
Due to the high number of wild burros in and around the refuge, car accidents have also been an issue. Zabriskie said that at one point an employee of the refuge hit three burros while traveling on roadways near the refuge in one year. The refuge’s vehicle was totaled in one of those collisions.
The last time that there has been a large transfer of wild burros from the Yuma area to Florence was back in 2012, when around 350 burros were transported, according to Arizona Wild Horse and Burro Program Lead John Hall, who also manages the Florence Wild Horse and Burro Training and Off-Range Corral.
Hall said that his facility has a capacity of 1,000 animals, with each one having “well beyond the required 400-squarefeet” of space. He also noted that when animals are brought in, they usually aren’t in great shape.
“As soon as they get in, usually their body condition is a little bit lower than we like when they first come in out of the wild,” he said. “So we will give them their shots … we microchip all of our animals, we also freeze (brand) them on their left neck, which is our identification.”
The facility in Florence where the burros will be headed is also home to the Wild Horse Inmate Program, where inmates work with animals to train them and get them ready for adoption.
According to a statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “The goal is for people to adopt horses and burros where they can live out their lives with ample food, shelter, and care.”