Starting in south-east Texas, representatives of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation are taking a trailer full of donkeys across the entire width of Texas to make a stand for the wild burros being shot in the world famous Big Bend State Park by the Texas Park and Wildlife Department.
They will travel from Houston to Alpine Texas to hold a town hall meeting with local residents on how to stop the bloodshed. They will also spend several days participating and demonstrating in local Art Fairs and associated parades.
Their plan is to spread the word, drum up support and attempt to secure photographs of the last living wild burro herd in Texas before Texas park rangers wipe out hundreds of free-roaming donkeys in Big Bend State Park.
So far nearly 130 have been killed, but in the process, the shootings are stirring a whole new kind of cross-border controversy, pitting state officials against burro-lovers who believe the animal holds a special place in history and deserves protection.
The state's stance is that wild donkeys wandering over from Mexico simply don't belong in Texas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department considers an estimated 300 burros in Big Bend to be destructive intruders, hogging forage and lapping up precious water in the drought-starved mountains — thereby threatening the survival of hundreds of native species. "
Outraged locals, however, claim there's only one animal the state really cares about — bighorn sheep. Skeptics suspect the state wants to to attract wealthy and well-connected hunters. State permits to bag bighorns fetch upward of $100,000 at auction in Texas.
Extinct in Texas for decades, a herd of nearly four dozen was relocated to the 316,000-acre range last year, and many believe they are seen as the beginning of a larger herd that will attract game hunters from across the nation.
Margaret Farabee of the Wild Burro Protection League believe that's why the state wants to eliminate any threat to the sheep's survival so the bighorn hunters can one day return to Big Bend
In Big Bend National Park, right next door to the state-owned land, killing wild burros is prohibited by a 40-year-old federal ban that Congress said protects the "living symbols and pioneer spirit of the West."
Among those trying to stop the shootings include a Wisconsin woman who's bombarded the state with open records requests; a former state park supervisor in Big Bend; and more than 94,000 supporters on Change.org, making it one of the website's most popular petitions ever.
The biggest ally of the groups out to save the donkeys may be history. In 2007, a similar uproar caused the state to temporarily suspend its first foray into "lethal control" after park rangers killed 71 wild burros.
Luis Armenderiz, the former Big Bend supervisor who retired following the initial controversy, said the burros are no more destructive to the park than humans who put in bike trails.
"We are invading their ecosystem. They're not invading ours," Armenderiz said.