The Bureau of Land Management this week will begin a bait-and-trap removal of up to 40 burros from private property near the Tassi-Gold Butte Herd Area in northwest Arizona.
The burros have wandered off of public lands and are damaging property and springs on the nearby Seven Springs Ranch, according to an agency press release.
The roundup is expected to last through September, with bait placed in temporary corrals used to lure the burros. Captured animals are to be shipped to the Florence, Ariz., Wild Horse and Burro Training and Off-Range Corral to be prepared for BLM’s adoption program.
Located 60 miles southwest of St. George, Utah, the 103,437-acre Tassi-Gold Butte Herd Area, which includes 53,046 acres of BLM lands, is not managed for wild horses or burros. The BLM-set “Appropriate Management Level” is 0. It had an estimated population of about 88 burros in March, according to BLM.