The Beatty, Nevada website home page features three burros in an expanse of Joshua Trees and a prospector leading his burro. Beatty residents are apparently fond of burros but the recent shooting death of 12 wild burros indicates that not everyone in the area appreciates the animals.
That’s the only logical explanation for a shooting spree that could send the culprit(s) to prison for years and cost them thousands of dollars in fines if they are arrested and convicted of the crime.
The burros were found dead due to gunshots on public land outside Beatty near the Bullfrog Herd Management Area where burro herds are managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
BLM spokesman Kyle Hendrix said the earlier report of 13 burros shot to death was revised to 12 dead burros found in the Beatty area. On Saturday, May 5, the initial report was there were three burro carcasses and the other dead burros were discovered later according to the BLM.
“Due to the location and similar cause of death, they are believed to be linked to the three reported earlier,” the BLM’s Battle Mountain District reported on May 14.
Killing a wild burro is punishable by up to a year in year in prison with hefty fines according to the BLM press release. The agency has opened an investigation in cooperation with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information on the crime is asked to call the BLM’s crime hotline at 1-800-521-6501.
As of June 1, 2017, about 620 burros were counted by the BLM in the Bullfrog HMA where the agency’s AML (Appropriate Management Level) is 55 to 91 wild burros, according to Hendrix. An estimated 100 to 150 wild burros were outside the HMA and a gather may happen, he said.
“The BLM’s Tonopah Field Office is currently in the process of requesting approval for a gather of burros living within and outside the Bullfrog HMA,” Hendrix said last week. “While it is possible that the burros could have caused damage to private property, none has been reported to the BLM. There was a vehicle collision with a wild burro on April 21.”
Since the investigation is ongoing, the BLM would not release information about the type of firearm(s) used to commit the crime, Hendrix said. He would also not say if the burros died instantly due to gunshots to the head or if they bled to death due to other gunshot wounds.
SAFETY CONCERNS
According to the Pahrump Valley Times, 117 burros were bait and water trapped in December, 2017 northwest of Pahrump near the Johnnie HMA. BLM conducted the gather in response to damage caused by burros on private land and collisions between burros and vehicles on roads.
AML for the Johnnie HMA is 108 wild burros but the estimated population was almost triple that number with approximately 311 of the animals living within the HMA according to the BLM.
The Pahrump area’s burro problem was made worse by those who feed and water the animals on private land, BLM Wild Horse & Burro Specialist Tabitha Romero told the PVT. Feeding the animals will discourage them from seeking food and water in more isolated habitat, she said.
“Once you give them an easy out, like when you start feeding them and giving them hay and water, they will immediately stop looking for that on their own,” Romero told the PVT. “On the north of town, we have a perfectly good spring for the animals because it has plenty of water. They don’t use it because they are so used to getting water from humans. That action affects their foraging habits because, if they don’t have to forage, they will not forage.”
During the gather, 74 males, 31 females and 12 foals were trapped and transported to the BLM’s Ridgecrest Holding Facility where the burros were available for adoption by the public.
