The Bureau of Land Management has been baiting and trapping female burros, or “jennies,” in the Black Mountain area since August in a pilot program with the Humane Society of the United States aimed at reducing the wild burro population.
Female burros are being inoculated with an immunocontraceptive vaccine known as Porcine Zona Pellucida, or PZP, said Adam Eggers, spokesman for the BLM in Phoenix.
“Once we get the animals into the corral, we check their health and well-being and we check their gender, and for jennies, they get the PZP and usually within 24 hours they’re back on the range,” he said.
They’re divided into groups, and some are held for a couple of weeks until they’re given booster shots, Eggers added.
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.”...
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