Wild Burros

[rpcrowe]

I came upon these wild burros along the Parker Strip of the Colorado River in the Western U.S.A, between the states of California and Arizona.

I love driving the backroads of the American West and always have a camera with a telephoto lens ready for what ever I see interesting. I used a 70-200mm to shoot the burros but, if I had a handful of carrots, they would have come right up to me. Although these burros are wild animals in that they are not owned by anyone, they are not afraid of humans and will approach begging for carrots and other treats.

The burros are the descendants of pack animals used by gold miners in the late 19th Century. When the gold ran out, the miners set the burros free. The landscape is much like the animal's North Africa home and they thrived. There are thousands of wild burros roaming over this area.

In fact, there is a small town in Arizona named Oatman which has a herd of wild burros that comes into the town each morning to beg for carrots and other treats. The burros return to the hills above the town each evening.
Oatman, Arizona