Riverside drivers, on occasion, may be abruptly reminded of that hidden presence of a population of wild donkeys scattered around the city. On the winding mountain roads towards the Redlands area, one might be stopped as a donkey fearlessly struts into the middle of the street to stare down your car. Like them or not, wild burros, as they are more commonly called, contribute to the prevention of wildfires in California by grazing our dry plains. However, their stubborn nature results in many injurious confrontations with man-made objects: trains and cars and barbed wire.

Originally, wildlife habitats for donkeys were formed to take in abused domestic donkeys. However, the ever-increasing population of wild burros means an ever-increasing stream of injured burros with no place to go. Sanctuaries, such as Riverside’s Donkeyland, recently stepped up to care for these injured wild burros; offering services that include, “safely capturing, providing first-aid onsite treatment or transporting to the hospital.”  This constitutes a band-aid solution to be placed over a more fundamental problem of overpopulation.

Wildlife agencies typically introduce legislation like hunting seasons to manage wildlife populations (such as what California does with deer). Federal law prevents such an action against wild burros. The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, marks wild burros, along with their horse cousins, as a federally protected species. Section 4730.1 of the act states:

Except as an act of mercy, no wild horse or burro shall be destroyed without the authorization of the authorized officer. Old, sick, or lame animals shall be destroyed in the most humane manner possible. Excess animals for which adoption demand does not exist shall be destroyed in the most humane and cost-efficient manner possible.

And section 4770.5 states:

Any person who commits any act prohibited in § 4770.1 of these regulations shall be subject to a fine of not more than $2,000 or imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both, for each violation. Any person so charged with such violation by the authorized officer may be tried and sentenced by a United States Commissioner or magistrate, designated for that purpose by the court by which he/she was appointed, in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as provided in 18 U.S.C. 3401.

With no natural predators, burros are free to reproduce as they like, some years doubling their population from the previous. The act leaves no options to deal with the overpopulation of wild burros, other than relocation (see section 4770.2).

The San Bernardino Sun has reported that such a relocation has been put on the agenda recently, and controversially so. An initiative led by Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe to legislate the transport of two-hundred wild burros out of the county has been underway for months. The above-mentioned Donkeyland has offered to take in these wild burros, but county officials have deemed the sanctuary too small for the donkeys. Donkeyland took to to claim that they in fact do have space and are expanding to have even more.

Bypassing Donkeyland, the county contracted Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, a Texas-based Donkey sanctuary with over 5.5 million acres of donkey habitat. The decision remains controversial. Several community members have spoken out about preserving the wildlife at the last San Bernardino County Supervisor’s meeting. Officials seem final about their decision, so we can only wait and see how it plays out.