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BLM adoption event helps wild horses and burros find homes

Burros at the BLM's wild horse and burro adoption event at the Doña Ana County Fairgrounds
Scott Brocato
Burros at the BLM's wild horse and burro adoption event at the Doña Ana County Fairgrounds

The Bureau of Land Management held a two-day wild horse and burro adoption event this past weekend at the Doña Ana County Fairgrounds in Las Cruces, which featured 80 animals up for adoption.

Wild horses at the BLM's wild horse and burro adoption event at the Doña Ana County Fairgrounds
Scott Brocato
Wild horses at the BLM's wild horse and burro adoption event at the Doña Ana County Fairgrounds

Walking around the Doña Ana County Fairgrounds in Las Cruces on the opening day of the BLM’s wild horse and burro adoption event, Bernie Soto from El Paso was particularly interested in the burros.

“I'm looking at the wild burros right here, and see if I could find a miniature wild burro,” he said. “But they're middle-size here, so I might not take anything.”

Bernie described what he would do with a miniature burro if he could find one.

“Keep him as a pet and probably take him up there on a hike with me and backpack him a little. Not heavy backpacks.”

Bernie Soto from El Paso, looking to adopt a miniature burro at the BLM's wild horse and burrow adoption event
Scott Brocato
Bernie Soto from El Paso, looking to adopt a miniature burro at the BLM's wild horse and burrow adoption event

The Bureau of Land Management attracts potential horse and burro adopters like Bernie in hopes of finding every wild horse and burro and good home. The animals are burros, along with adult and yearling horses, who once roamed free on public lands in the west, but are removed by the BLM from the range to maintain healthy herds and protect other rangeland resouces.

According to Crystal Cowan, an event coordinator with the BLM, a potential adopter of a wild horse or burro needs to have a good corral to put the animals in and a good stock trailer. She also described other qualifications needed to adopt.

“Someone needs to have a minimum of 400 square feet, which is only about a 20 x 20, with access to shelter and food and water,” she said. “And the animal just needs to stay in that small enclosure until the adopter gets it gentled. It is untrained, it is wild, so it will need to have a good corral to put the animal in: a six-foot-tall corral for an adult horse, five-foot for a yearling, and four-and-a-half-foot tall for a burro. The adopter also needs to be 18 years of age and have no prior convictions of animal abuse.”

Crystal Cowan, event coordinator, Bureau of Land Management
Scott Brocato
Crystal Cowan, event coordinator, Bureau of Land Management

Cowan said that the animals who were up for adoption at BLM’s event came from the ten western states.

“They're still on the same public lands that they were on when the Wild Horse and Burro Act was enacted in 1971 by Congress,” she said. “Most of our wild horses are in Nevada on herd management areas. Most of the burros are in southern Arizona, some in southern California as well. There’s horses in Utah. It's the ten western states, so Utah, Montana has a few, Wyoming. California, Oregon...I might be missing some, but the ten western states.”

The two-day event started off on Friday with 80 animals; by the end of the day, 27 burros and 36 horses were placed into private care. Cowan described what happens to the wild animals who don’t end up getting adopted.

“The animals that don't get adopted are taken at noon on Saturday back to our holding corrals at Pauls Valley, Oklahoma,” she said. “It’s centrally located, so we can receive animals from the West. We can supply our adoptions in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and New Mexico. And then we can also ship to adoptions in the East. So the adoption program is a nationwide program. If these animals don't get adopted, again, we're going to take them back to Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. And they'll rest for awhile, go out in the pasture, be a horse; and then they'll go to another adoption.”

The next BLM wild horse and burro event in New Mexico will be at the end of August in Albuquerque, which Cowan said will be posted soon on their website, https://www.blm.gov/whb

UPDATE: After this story aired, the BLM's Crystal Cowan confirmed the final tally of this weekend's adoption event in Las Cruces: out of 74 wild horses and burros up for adoption, 68 found homes.

Scott Brocato has been an award-winning radio veteran for over 35 years. He has lived and worked in Las Cruces since 2016, and you can hear him regularly during "All Things Considered" from 4 pm-7 pm on weekdays. Off the air, he is also a local actor and musician, and you can catch him rocking the bass with his band Flat Blak around Las Cruces and El Paso.