Another round up of wild burros Saturday by the Bureau of Land Management is causing some disagreement between the government agency and animal advocates.
A helicopter, at times flying very low above the desert, forced a couple dozen burros toward a pen. Cowboys holding sticks with white noisemakers herded the burros on Oliver Ranch, near Red Rock Canyon.
The BLM says there are too many animals and not enough food, and therefore it's necessary to round up the animals so they won't starve to death. But not everyone agrees.
One family lives in Blue Diamond and watched from the highway with disappointment as the burros were rounded up.
"It's sad. You come out here. You see a little nature, which is the trees, cactuses, and donkeys, and here the last of them are rounded up." says Audrey Dotson, who lives in Blue Diamond.
The BLM wasn't available for comment over the weekend, so we don't precisely how many burros were rounded up... or if any wild horses were gathered.
The BLM's goal this month is to catch 780 burros and 266 wild horses in the Spring Mountains. The agency will tag and re-release 112 horses and 121 burros into the wild to sustain a community. The other animals will be adopted.
The round-up costs between $300,000 and $400,000. It's being paid with funds from BLM land auctions.
