What's New!

For the last month many of us have eagerly awaited the public release of the GAO's report on the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

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FOREVER WILD AND FREE
By Craig C. Downer, Wild Horse Ecologist

Speech for Wild Horse Summit, Las Vegas.

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BLM proposes to "euthanize" 33,000 wild horses and burros held in holding facilities.

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The Facts about Burros

• Wild burros are, for the most part, solitary or intermittently social. Because food is usually scarce in its desert habitat, high concentrations of burros in one area is not possible
• Burros average between 42 and 48 inches in height and weigh about 500 pounds.
• Burros evolved in the deserts of North Africa and were brought to the American Southwest by gold prospectors.
• The word burro is derived from the Spanish word borrico meaning donkey.
• Burros are well adapted to desert life. They have tough hooves that can handle sand and rock; woolly hair to insulate from desert heat and cold; and a digestive system that can break down almost inedible roughage.
• Wild burros live in Nevada, Arizona and California, Oregon and Utah.
• Burros have only five lumbar vertebrae compared with most horses six, and generally have upright, sparse, spiky manes with no forelock.
• The burro's voice, his mighty bray, allows widely spaced animals to keep in contact or define their territories.

Books to read about burros:

• Brightly of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry
• The Burro, Their History by Frank Brookshier

The Facts about Wild Horses

• Wild horses live in year round family groups called bands.
• Wild horses come in all colors and sizes, but many are smaller than domestic horses. A typical wild horse stands about 14 hands (56 inches at the shoulder) and weighs about 900 pounds.
• A male wild horse is called a stallion and a female is called a mare.
• Wild horses eat grass or roughage and drink water from seeps, springs, streams, or lakes. Adults eat about 20 pounds of plant food each day.
• It takes 11 months for a foal to be born. In about two hours, the colt can trot along with its mother.
• There are wild horse herds in Canada, on islands off the east coast of the US, and in 10 western states.

Books to read about wild horses:

• America's Last Wild Horses and The Wild Colt, The Life of a Young Mustang by Hope Ryden
• The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
• Misty of Chincoteague, Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague,
  Misty's Twilight and Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West,
  all by Marguerite Henry
• The Mustangs by J. Frank Dobie
• Into the Wind by Jay Kirkpatrick
• Mustang by Sharon Curtin