Rescued Burros Arrive At California Sanctuary

by ANC Staff and The Fund for Animals

The Fund for Animals' world-famous Black Beauty Ranch animal sanctuary has welcomed the first of several groups of burros from Death Valley and Mojave National Parks in southern California, in a cooperative effort with the federal government to find homes for the unwanted animals.

Working with the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, The Fund for Animals has already received 40 burros and has agreed to accept up to 100 per year.

The Fund says it will find and screen adoptive homes for the burros, or will provide them a permanent home at Black Beauty Ranch, where they will live out the remainder of their lives with hundreds of rescued burros and other animals on the 1,600-acre animal sanctuary in east Texas.

Black Beauty Ranch was originally founded in 1979 as a home for 577 burros who were slated to be shot by the National Park Service in the Grand Canyon. Cleveland Amory and The Fund brought the burros to safety by airlifting them in a daring helicopter rescue.

"The federal agencies should be commended for allowing these Mojave and Death Valley burros to be humanely adopted rather than killed," said The Fund's President, Michael Markarian.

"It shows just how far we've come when a quarter century ago we fought the government's burro eradication plans, and today we are collaborating with the agencies to spare the animals' lives. We are very thankful to both the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management for their holiday gift to the burros," Markarian said.

People who want to adopt burros should contact the Black Beauty Ranch at (903) 469-3811. Burros need a lot of attention and companionship, and The Fund will only allow them to be adopted in pairs.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.