Death Valley Auxiliary Roundup Day 5

The incident began on April 25.  Gather stats through April 29:

• Target: Burros
• Type: Planned
• Method: Helicopter
• Captured: 78, up from 55 on Day 3
• Average daily take: 15.6
• Capture goal: 490
• Removal goal: 490
• Returned: None
• Deaths: None
• Shipped: 78, up from 55 on Day 3

Helicopters were grounded on Day 4 due to high winds.

The cumulative total includes 34 jacks, 37 jennies and seven foals.

Youngsters represented 9% of the animals captured.  Of the adults, 48% were jacks and 52% were jennies.

The herd can’t be growing at a rate of 20% per year with a birth rate of 9%.  If the death rate is 5%, the growth rate would be around 4% per year.  The BLM did not indicate if the jennies had been treated with the Montana Solution.

The location of the trap site was not provided.

The maps in Appendix B of the project documents show the location of gather activity relative to the park.  The Western Watersheds map does not show Herd Areas.

Day 5 ended with no unaccounted-for animals.

The number of burros removed to date is 78.

Other statistics:

• AML: Zero
• Forage assigned to burros: None
• Pre-gather population: Unknown
• Forage liberated to date: 468 AUMs per year
• Water liberated to date: 390 gallons per day
• Forage assigned to livestock: Unknown
• Burros displaced from area by permitted grazing: Unknown
• True AML: Unknown
• Stocking rate at new AML: Unknown
• Burros displaced from area by drilling and mining: Ask the advocates

RELATED: Death Valley Auxiliary Roundup Day 3.