Veterinarians, Temple Grandin and Humane Society of U.S. Agree: No Helicopter Stampedes in Temps Above 90 Degrees
As the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) prepares to launch a massive burro roundup next week in the lower Sonora Desert, where temperatures are expected to exceed 100 degrees, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC), a coalition of more than 50 organizations, is calling on the BLM to postpone the helicopter stampede and capture operation until Fall, when temperatures will be lower. In a letter to the BLM, the AWHPC cited the opinions of leading scientists and humane experts, who stated definitively that wild burros and wild horses should not be rounded up by helicopters in temperatures above 90 degrees.
Danger for desert burros
BLM plans to use helicopters to round up hundreds of burros in the Sonora desert near the Mexican border with temperatures over 100 degrees.
The BLM plans to use helicopters to round up hundreds of burros in Arizona’s Cibola Trigo Herd Management Area (HMA) and California’s Chocolate Mule Mountain Herd Area (HA) — both located in the Sonora desert near the Mexican border — beginning Monday, June 4, 2012. The roundups are expected to last over two weeks.
The million-acre Cibola-Trigo HMA extends from the Imperial Dam, west of the Colorado River, to Walters Camp in California’s lower Sonora Desert. After the BLM rounds up and removes 350 burros from Cibola Trigo, it will move across the Colorado River into California’s Chocolate-Mule HA. There the agency will target so called “nuisance burros” who reside on private land that was once a part of the HA, for removal.
The BLM website acknowledges that “summers can be dangerous” due to the extremely high desert summer temperatures. The BLM Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Cibola-Trigo roundup states that, “All herding activities will cease once the temperature reaches 105 degrees Fahrenheit,” which is 15 degrees hotter than the experts recommend.
The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC) is a coalition of more than 50 horse advocacy, public interest, and conservation organizations dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable, free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage.>