Whereas, with only three days public notice, the Mohave County Supervisors did not seek prior input from the majority of Mohave County citizens before sending a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Bergum (and other government agencies and officials) requesting federal funding and assistance to remove additional burros from the 1.1-million-acre Black Mountain Herd Management Area on September 6th, 2026;

And whereas The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 decreed that the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture are to engage in the “protection, management, and control of wild free-roaming horses and burros on public lands…to be considered…as an integral part of the natural system” on those lands. 

And whereas there was an estimated population of more than 2,000 burros coexisting peacefully in the Black Mountain HMA when that Act to protect them became law, but the absurdly low "appropriate management level" (AML) of 382-478 burros on 1.1M acres was set arbitrarily by the Black Mountain Ecosystem Management Team BLM advisory committee, on which current Mohave County Supervisor Don Martin was a member (representing  the Mohave Sportsman Club) and whose personal business (Arizona Wildlife Outfitter's) profited from guided trophy hunting of bighorn sheep and other ungulates in the HMA; 

And whereas the "50/500 Rule" is a long-standing guideline in conservation biology for the minimum effective population size needed to preserve genetic diversity, and an effective population of at least 500 is needed to retain enough genetic variation for ongoing adaptation and to avoid substantial loss of evolutionary potential over generations, with the Rule originating in the early 1980s and remaining a widely cited rule-of-thumb with later research recommending higher numbers (e.g., 1,000 or more) for long-term genetic security;

And whereas according to an April 2021 article published in the journal Science and titled "Equids engineer desert water availability" wild donkeys in Arizona at five sites in the Sonoran and Mojave (where the Black Mountain HMA is located) deserts over three summers were shown to dig water wells that "increased the density of water features, reduced distances between waters, and, at times, provided the only water present. Vertebrate richness and activity were higher at equid wells than at adjacent dry sites, and, by mimicking flood disturbance, equid wells became nurseries for riparian trees." Even with a current estimated population of 3,406 remaining donkeys in the HMA the bighorn sheep and other animals in the ecosystem are thriving, possibly due to the donkeys digging water wells.

And whereas in the spring of 2026 the Bureau of Land Management removed 486 warm weather acclimated burros (including 20 foals) from the Black Mountain HMA and shipped them to the Off‑Range Corral in Axtell, UT, a holding facility where the winters are brutally cold and the animal's health and wellbeing will likely suffer;

And whereas on August 20th, 2026, in an article titled "Under Trump, Protected Wild Horses Are Going to Slaughter” the New York Times exposed that the BLM was not following its' own adoption rules and sold thousands of federally protected wild mustangs (often for as little as $25 each) through a legal loophole, after which many were quickly resold and ended up on trucks bound for slaughter plants in Canada. The same program and loopholes also apply to wild burros, and Skydog Sanctuary has tracked 333 wild horses and burros in kill pens so far this year, most purchased at BLM adoption events and resold within days, in direct violation of signed anti-slaughter contracts. The NY Times previously published a related article, on May 15th, 2021, titled “Wild Horses Adopted Under a Federal Program Are Going to Slaughter”;

And whereas a bill introduced in the 117th Congress and cosponsored by nine Members (H.R. 503) acknowledged that "between 2.3 million and 4.8 million donkeys are slaughtered annually for their hides to support ejiao production" and also that the United States is a "Confirmed export" country as well as an importer of donkey hide derived (ejiao) products; 

Be it resolved that We the People of Mohave County stand in opposition to the letter sent by the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, and request that the following actions be taken:

1) Reopen a BLM holding and adoption facility in Golden Valley, AZ, and resume BLM auction events annually at the Mohave County Fair, so that residents of Mohave County and the surrounding tri-state area can adopt wild horses and burros without having to drive hundreds of miles and subject the animals to unnecessarily long trailer rides.

2) Reevaluate and consider raising the appropriate management level in the Black Mountain HMA to a substantially higher maximum number of donkeys more aligned with current scientific genetic diversity population guidelines.

3) Prohibit the export of horses and donkeys for slaughter immediately.

4) Ban the import of products made with ejiao derived from donkey hides into the United States immediately.

5) Refer for criminal prosecution any BLM or other Federal agency employee complicit in the documented violation of rules which allowed a horse or donkey to be illegally sold for slaughter, as well as all "adopters" and other documented participants in the illegal activity.