General Information: Feral Burros (feral ass) (Equus asinus) are non-native relatives of horses that were introduced into the western wildlands in the late 1800s and early 1900s when gold and silver mines played out and prospectors abandoned their animals.

While these animals are of historical interest, they are bad for native environments and the native species the environment supports. In particular, wild burros are bad for native desert bighorn sheep because bighorn need clean water, and wild burros stir up waterholes into muddy messes. Native bighorn have lost habitat because of the damage wild burros do to springs.

Fortunately, our land management agencies are trying to manage wild horse and burro populations by reducing the number of these non-native animals to levels where the environmental damage is tolerable for all of the other species.

Feeding burros is unsafe (they bite and kick) and can cause traffic jams on the highway and the chance for vehicle accidents.