Although burros have a history of being used to protect livestock, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is testing the use of wild burros on ranches to prevent wolf-livestock depredations in the state.
The experiment comes just before Colorado is set to reintroduce gray wolves to the state as a result of constituents voting in favor of Proposition 114 in 2020. With gray wolves also recently listed under the Endangered Species Act, ranchers will have to turn to nonlethal deterrent measures.
In late February, CPW captured six wild burros from Utah and delivered them to rancher Don Gittleson in Walden, CO. Gittleson has had several cattle killed or injured by wolves in the last few months, and a nearby neighbor has had two dogs killed. After becoming acclimated to the weather and altitude, the burros will be turned out with the cattle in the hopes of protecting them from wolves.
“Don will start to introduce the burros to certain members of the herd in small increments,” said CPW Wildlife Officer Zach Weaver in a press release. “He has put the burros out with a small group of calves on his ranch. They’re still in a corral with access to heat, but he’s beginning to acclimate them.”
After Gittleson had experienced several depredations on his ranch, he and Weaver met with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to discuss methods of preventing future depredations, which is where introducing wild burros was suggested.
“APHIS told us that burros were effective at stopping predation in Oregon,” Weaver said. “We learned that wild burros are more effective because they’ve been in the wild where they’ve had to defend themselves and their herd from predation from animals like mountain lions and coyotes.”
Weaver then started searching for wild burros up for adoption in Utah that had been rounded up from high ground in Nevada. Weaver and Gittleson wanted burros that were better acclimated to higher elevations and the cold. They also wanted more mature animals that were more experienced with defending themselves.
On Feb. 27, Weaver and a fellow officer drove to Axtell, UT, where they picked up six wild burros (two gelded jacks and four jennies) ranging from 5-11 years old and then delivered them to Gittleson’s ranch.
“Although it’s not a service CPW will be able to offer every rancher in Colorado, it could yield important information about how effective wild burros can be at preventing wolf depredations,” CPW said.
Weaver said he has been telling ranchers who have reached out to him with wolf concerns to look into adopting burros for the purpose of protecting livestock from incoming wolf populations.
“A lot of our monitoring will be based on feedback from Don for this pilot program,” Weaver said. “He’ll tell us if he’s seeing as many wolves as he has in the past or if they’re still coming through his property at as high a frequency as they were.” — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
