'Shot indiscriminately and dying in pain': Massacre of dozens of wild donkeys roaming state park... because they are non-nativeBy David Gardner
20th January 2012
Animal lovers are fighting to save the lives of hundreds of donkeys that are being systematically executed because they are not native to a Texas wildlife park.
Already, wildlife officials have killed 75 of the 300 wild donkeys roaming Big Bend State Park.
But more than 100,000 signatures have now been collected for a petition organized by donkey enthusiasts.
‘It really hurts me to know the money I’m paying for my camp sites and entry fees are going to fund to kill an animal I hold dear to my heart,’ Waco-based veterinarian Jennifer Garretson told CBS Houston.
‘These same parks are brutally killing these donkeys,’ she added. She claimed officials had ‘closed their ears and eyes to other alternatives.’
And she said she believes the termination policy meant sheep, elk, cougars and bobcats could be wiped out from the 315,000-acre park.
‘They, as humans, are doing more damage to the ecosystem by destroying both predator and prey,’ she added.
Texas Park and Wildlife officials insist the wild donkeys are a threat to the ecosystem as they try to introduce new animals to the environment.
‘We try to keep nature natural. Because the feral burros are not native, we do not feel that they have a place in our state parks,’ Parks and Wildlife Spokesman Kevin Good told the Houston Chronicle.
‘I don’t see our agency changing its policy regarding non-native and exotic and invasive species,’ he added.
Animal rights activists are also unhappy about the way the donkeys are being killed. They claim they were being shot indiscriminately rather than in the head and were dying in pain.
The Wild Burro Protection League also argued that no study had been done to provide proof that the donkeys hurt Big Bend’s ecosystem.
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