Visit Oatman, Arizona to see wild burros wandering about town

[boingboing]

Originally published at: Visit Oatman, Arizona to see wild burros wandering about town | Boing Boing

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[mick129]

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Where Donkeys Rule the Streets (Oatman Arizona, Route 66, Arizona Road Trip)

And circular comment button of doom.

[VeronicaConnor]

Wow, two stories like this in the same day from different sources, about different donkey-blessed towns.

Donkeys were the lifeblood of this Colorado town. Now every summer, they roam...

[Otherbrother]

@boingboing

Not only can you get fined by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) for feeding the burros, it’s also bad for the donkeys:

Please do not feed the burros on the roadways into town. It will teach the animals to come to the road and could result in accidents.

That warning was specifically about not feeding them out on the road. The same article includes the following:

Most storefronts have food that you can purchase to feed the burrows. The “wild” burrows may even stick their heads in the doors of the stores. Around sunset, every night the burros wander back to their home in the mountains.

Keep in mind the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) can fine you for feeding wild burros. This fine may be ignored in the town of Oatman , but it is at your own risk.

I’ve been there before and the ship has definitely sailed many many years ago when it comes to not getting them used to being fed in town. Like the article mentions, most of the businesses in town sell food for them.

When I was there it happened to be in spring following an unusually wet winter so the burros were totally uninterested in the tourists with dry alfalfa because they had much better options available all over the place.

One of the biggest downsides to feeding them might be the opposite of what a lot of people imagine: they’re a somewhat destructive invasive species, so feeding them may help boost their numbers and cause more damage as a result. I’d hate to see these guys go away but if we’re being honest they don’t belong there.

https://www.npca.org/articles/1409-the-burro-quandary

Also, another burro-related warning: several locals there warned my family not to let our little dog anywhere near them, and to carry him for his own safety. Apparently the burros hate coyotes and will give a severe thrashing to smaller dogs that remind them of coyotes. People spoke about seeing them grab little dogs in their mouths and violently shake them, which I never would have guessed was a burro behavior.

[Badder74]

Up On Cripple Creek (Remastered 2000)

[Jesse13927]

I was about to book a plane ticket but then I realized that the headline did not, in fact, say “wild burritos.”

[NoamDePlume]

Having been there, there are definitely burros, and they’re pretty tame. What’s not tame is the stretch of Rt 66 to get there. It was allegedly the most dangerous stretch of Rt 66, but my traveling companion and I were like “It’s a highway, how bad can it be?”

On the way into town, it was mostly gentle curves and some dips. The road out the other side is a lane and a half wide stretch that switchbacks down a cliff while yahoos in oversized Fords come bombing up at you.

Fun times, especially for traveling companion, who is afraid of heights.

[smulder]

Oat Man

[Tamsin_Bailey]

Me too, buddy, but this is isn’t worse.