PEORIA, AZ — The Bureau of Land Management will be gathering and removing up to 1,500 wild burros from the Lake Pleasant area starting this week.
According to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, the removal of burros from the Lake Pleasant Herd Management Area will begin on Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
A recent update to the herd management plan approved a herd size of about 140-250 wild burros for the area.
Contractors will conduct removal operations using “temporary bait and water traps consisting of a series of corral panels stocked with water, forage, or both,” officials say.
The burros will then be removed and “humanely transported” to Florence’s Arizona Wild Horse and Burro Training and Holding Facility, and will be “prepared for the BLM’s Adoption and Sales Program, according to officials.
Aside from the removal of burros, officials will also be “administering fertility control.”
For information on how to adopt or purchase a wild horse or burro, visit this website.
