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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Hee-Haw! Want to Adopt a Wild Burro from the Desert?

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Photo by ashleighb77 via Flickr

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This is news to us: "there are twenty-two wild horse and burro herd management areas located throughout Southern California," according to the Los Angeles Animal Services Department, which sells licenses to those planning on having one at home (but you've gotta live in an equine district, we believe). Every year, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rounds up the animals from public lands in California, Nevada and Arizona, bringing them to a corral near Ridgecrest, grooming them for adoption.

The BLM last week announced that 20-40 burros will soon be gathered up from a narrow strip of public lands between the Army's Fort Irwin and Death Valley National Park. They also plan to remove 160 of them in another nearby area later this fall. All that means it's time for the adoption push.

But buyer beware--your beloved burro can live up to 40 years, sometimes outlasting their owners, the LA Times found back in 2001.

"Burros generally adjust well to domestication and are adopted for use as pack animals, riding, pulling carts or wagons, guard animals for livestock, and as pets," according to the BLM in a press release. Information on adoption can be obtained by calling (760) 384-5765.

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