| My name is Nicole Hayes and I’m AWHC’s Conservation Scientist! I’m reaching out today because tomorrow is World Donkey Day! This is an important day for me and every member of my team at American Wild Horse Conservation because it falls in May, or Burro Awareness Month! This is a month-long celebration of the unique lives and benefits of our wild burros!
In the spirit of World Donkey Day, I want to share a personal story about the burros who inhabit some of the wildest corners of the American West.
Dusk was settling in the Big Smoky Valley in Nevada. I was road-tripping with AWHC state director Tracy Wilson last year, and we took an unplanned detour to some well-known hot springs just before sunset. To our surprise, we started to notice wild burros coming into the water around all us. To respect their space, we moved to our vehicle and watched for over an hour as 30 to 40 wild burros descended on the springs for a drink of water before nightfall. It was my second encounter ever with wild burros and my first time seeing so many!
That afternoon was one of the most memorable experiences of my conservation career — and an important reminder that wild burro conservation is crucial.
Burros serve as remarkable ecosystem engineers. Research shows that wild burros actually boost water availability in deserts across the American West. Wells dug by burros in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts serve as a water source for more than five dozen native species. In fact, sometimes burro wells are their only water source.
This Burro Awareness Month, join us in taking action to protect the donkeys of the American West against mass roundups and removals by the Bureau of Land Management. Then, voice your support for these precious animals on social media with the hashtags #KeepWildBurrosWild and #SaveOurBurros!
Thank you! Together we can make a difference for America’s wild herds.
Nicole Hayes
Conservation Scientist
American Wild Horse Conservation |
