A contraceptive program in the Oatman, Arizona, area aims to eventually cut the number of wild burros there.
The Kingman Daily Miner reports the Bureau of Land Management and Humane Society of the United States have trapped female burros and inoculated them with an immunocontraceptive vaccine known as porcine zona pellucida, or PZP, then administers a booster shot a couple of weeks later after they’re released back into the wild.
As of Feb. 2, BLM had gathered 96 female burros from the Black Mountain Herd Management Area, which has an estimated 1,800 burro population. About 175 males were also gathered in the corral for genetic sampling. The target number is 160 females.
“It’s something we’re very interested in seeing how the data comes out,” Eggers said. “There’s not going to be one end-all, be-all solution to burro population control. The way to success is multiple strategies.” […]
“I’m encouraged by it because it doesn’t hurt the burros,” said Jo Ann Oxsen, publicist for Kingman Route 66 Rotary Club. “It just keeps them from reproducing and there’s no side effects. What they’re doing is good, I think.”
PZP also has been known as an effective contraceptive for horses and burros since the 1970s, and other sites in the U.S. have used the vaccine.
The BLM estimated about 2,000 wild burros roam the Black Mountains near Oatman — about four times the recommended number. The animals crowd out native wild sheep and overgraze the vegetation. Police also are reporting a rising number of traffic accidents involving the burros on Oatman Road (aka Route 66).
At one point, a frustrated Mohave County official suggested a hunting season for the burros. That idea quickly was dismissed.
The burros are descendants of animals used in area gold mines a century ago. When the mines closed, workers turned the burros loose.
The burros are a big tourist attraction in Oatman. Visitors pet the often-docile animals or feed them carrots sold by stores as they leisurely roam the streets. At nightfall, the animals graze in the nearby mountains or valleys.
(Image of one of the Oatman burros by Ethan Kan via Flickr)
Fund Planned Carrothood.
Just how do you get them to wear the condoms? No doubt being in the Oatman area, too many of the burros are feeling their oats……… And there are many less tasteful jokes!
I want to say something funny here, but I’m not coming up with anything.
Spike Milligan said decades back “Contraceptives should be used on every conceivable occasion”. The name Oatman is surely up for a few cracks. Should the town be renamed Oatperson?
The town of Oatman is named after Olive Oatman, a former Indian captive to lived in the area.