A group of burros, like this one near the Wild Rose area of Death Valley, helped a lost hiker stay alive in the park's backcountry/NPS file photo.
A group of feral burros inadvertently saved the life of a hiker lost in Death Valley National Park by leading him to water.
Park officials said the unidentified man set out for a hike on May 5 at Saline Valley Dunes, an area in the northwestern corner of the park that you need a four-wheel-drive rig to reach. Four days later, rangers received word that a white pickup truck had been parked there for several days.
"Rangers searched the area on Sunday but were unable to locate anyone associated with the truck. Through investigation, they determined that it had been rented by a single person and had not been returned by the rental contract's termination date," noted District Ranger J.D. Updegraff. "On Monday, the Beverly Hills Police Department checked at the man's home and confirmed that he was overdue and a search was begun."
This past Tuesday, around 10 a.m., the man was found roughly five miles from his vehicle and to the east of the dune complex.
"The man reportedly set out alone for a day hike on the morning of Tuesday, May 5th, and became disoriented. Unable to find his way back to his vehicle, he followed a group of burros to a watering hole where he subsisted until rescue arrived," the district ranger reported. "The man was transported to Northern Inyo Hospital where he is being treated for second degree sunburn and a rhabdomyolysis," a disease in which muscles breakdown.
Comments
Alert move to follow the burros to water - and then stay there until help arrived. This situation also offers a couple of reminders for any trip to remote locations: even on a day hike, take along a daypack with the basics for survival in case something unexpected comes up, and let somebody (not part of your group) know your plans, so they can notify authorities to investigate if you don't return as expected. Even experienced travelers can become careless and fail to do one or both of those from time to time, but given the remote location, this guy should be thankful for the successful outcome.
Thanks Jim, know there are some issues with these animals, but I love the burro's.
My husband and some of the members of our Kren River Valley Search & Rescue Group went out on this search. The man was way out there in really the middle of nowhere. Thank God that he thought to follow the burros.
Thank you brendat for being part of the search & rescue, and helping to bring the hiker to safety. Hope the hiker will recover without any long-term harm. He was out there a long time, a week, but how lucky he was to find those burros, and water. Having hiked the Death Valley backcountry, we know how disorienting the desert can be.
Dittos brenda, over the years, I had the opportunity to work with many excellent SAR volunteer groups. It was always a pleasure. Thank you for your efforts.
The burros have never had it easy with our government agencies. They are symbols of our culture and living natural icons of our pioneering history. Because of this important connection to our past, is cavalierly managing them to extinction without remorse.
The Black Mountain HMA is presently 1.1 million acres, but if developers of wind, gas, and agriculture have their way this HMA will soon be reduced and all the wildlife living on it will suffer. In the BLM count of 2013 the burro population came to just over 700 animals, yet they would have us believe that the population has grown to a whopping 1600-1800 burros in one short year and a half. This means even the jacks are having twins and they are all immortal.
When the HMA was set up in 1974 there were over 2000 burros living easily on this land. Now, the number allowed has been reduced to a mere 500 burros for this vast HMA. Meanwhile cattle are grazed with well over 5000 acknowledged as grazing on the land. At the scoping meetings held by the BLM at both Bullhead City and Kingman, photographs showing small sections of chopped grass were shown. The public was told the entire HMA was degraded by burros. Of course, no cattle were mentioned as being detrimental. I had to pry an acknowledgement that cattle were even present on the HMA out of them. Roger Oyler then answered questions I had about the mapping. He then confirmed that the ruling in WY concerning wild horses on checkerboard land gave them the right to remove the checker boarded areas from the Black Mountain HMA. He further explained the yellow area west of Kingman, called Golden Valley, will also be taken from the HMA.
It was also distressing to learn of the loss of a 10 mile long, 3 mile wide section of the HMA that runs parallel to the Colorado River and Bullhead City. The only way the burros have to get to this important water source is to cross Hwy 95. No provisions were made for crossing points over or under even though the area was slated as being a part of the original HMA and these provisions could have been made when the roadways were under construction. Now, resulting collisions with burros are providing an excuse for their removal from the area. As we delve deeper into the reasons for the inflated new burro numbers and safety accusations toward the burros we are finding reports about wind development with several projects in the works and others moving through the approval process. Other contributors are proposed agricultural development which along with wind development will further deplete already depleted water resources. It is important to note, that the Black Mountain HMA boasts the largest population of bighorn sheep in the nation. In fact, it is well documented that the hunting clubs have long wanted burros removed from habitat where bighorn sheep reside, citing resource conflicts as their reason for wanting them removed. http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/wildlife/feral-animals
As I traveled hundreds of miles exploring, what I saw was a beautiful desert full of life and forage. Burros were scarce, but to be fair, one week is never enough time to investigate an area. And so, friends in the area, who acted as guides on this trip, will continue to dig into the fitness of the range for me while WHFF continues its investigation into the real reason large sections of the HMA are about to be stripped away from these mountain canaries. What a lovely song I heard as I stayed during the night listening to the burros call each other through the mountains. Each voice was different and ethereal as the sound echoed through the mountain. It was magical. It saddens me to know that their song may soon be quiet and never heard again if special interests get their way. My history and culture are worth fighting for, and these burros deserve to be considered as a part of these lands now and forever more. They earned it.
Marjorie Farabee
Director of Wild Burro Affairs
Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Wild Burros of the Black Mountains
CBS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uPorL42iJ4
Our Wild Burros are Federally Protected, and unless we all fight to keep them on Public Lands, there will be no more. Forever is a long time.
Last of Wild Burros
http://farawaypeachgarden.com/2013/11/30/last-of-wild-burros/
June 30, 1987 was the deadline set in 1983 for capturing the animals and putting them up for adoption. To make sure wild burros do not return to Death Valley, Park Service rangers beginning July 1, 1987 were authorized to kill any stragglers they encounter while on patrol