Last week, my friend Curt Swafford, from Terlingua, called me to talk about the sad situation that the burros are facing, in Big Bend. I love burros and his news really upset me. I think as human beings, animal lovers and as Texans, we should demand that the Texas Parks and Wildlife stop the needless killing of these beautiful animals. Here is a copy of the note that Curt sent to me.
'Hi Nancy--Here is the information I would like you to put on your Blog. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's annual Commission Meeting will be held in Fort Worth on Aug. 26 at 2:00 P.M. Persons wishing to speak at the meeting must be there to register by 1:00 P.M. The meeting will be in the Will Rogers Center at the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibit Hall, 3400 Burnett-Tandy Dr. I spoke with Adrianna at Rep. Pete Gallego's office today, and she said a TPW employee named Harold Stone said TPW will resume shooting the burros this fall. I have also talked to both of the shooters, Mike Hall and Dan Scholly, and neither would say that they will not shoot any more burros. If you or Kinky know anyone in Fort Worth who would be willing to speak at this meeting, please contact them. The only way we can stop TPW is pressure from the tax payers.
Thanks--Curt Swafford'
If anyone in the Fort Worth area can go to this meeting—please go, and tell Texas Parks and Wildlife to stop this insane cruelty! It is totally disgusting.
2 comments:
Nancy, this post left me with more questions than answers. How did burros get to be roaming the Big Bend in the first place? I know they're not native to the region.
I gotta presume TPWD wants them gone because their teeth and hooves are destroying habitat for native wildlife - like the endangered desert bighorns.
Is there any way to round the donkeys up and place them in good homes as is done with mustangs?
Shooting the donkeys sounds like a last-ditch, albeit less expensive, method of handling the problem. Overpopulation - more than the range can carry, anyway - is probably the 'heart' of the problem, but that's just a guess on my part.
You have so many 'connections' - is there any group attempting to capture and relocate these long-ears? Burros usually tame down very easily and they're very popular, at least in this central Texas area.
If you know of such a group, would you post it to your blog? It would be great to present an alternative to shooting the burros!
Thank you for sharing this crisis - it is important to learn what is going on here.
Hi Mari, I will e-mail you about this.
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