National Perspective
By Jeff Rawson, Group Manager,
Wild Horse and Burro Program
The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program will continue to be the key focus for 2005. There are over 70 adoptions scheduled nationwide this year. As you will read in this issue of the News, there is a mustang or burro that is perfect for each of us.
Providing a home for a mustang or burro is a challenging and rewarding experience. For qualified individuals, this is a unique opportunity to care for, then own, a "Living Legacy" -- a symbol of American history.
With kindness and patience, you can train a mustang or burro for many uses. Mustangs have become champions in dressage, jumping, barrel racing, endurance riding, and pleasure riding. Burros excel in driving, packing, riding, guarding, and serving as companion animals. Both mustangs and burros are known for their sure-footedness, strength, intelligence, and endurance.
We are working to strengthen our Adoption Program. One way is to increase the promotion of our Adoption Events. In addition, the BLM is working toward making our advertising consistent nationwide and targeting each community where an adoption is scheduled to ensure the event information is distributed to a wide audience. We are also improving our volunteer program through a pilot project that will focus on increasing the use of volunteers and the types of projects volunteers are involved in.
If you are interested in helping to ensure that our Adoption Program continues to place mustangs and burros with caring families, please volunteer to help at the next adoption in your area. You can help us promote Adoption Events by distributing flyers to tack and feed stores, grocery stores, boarding stables, and other central locations in your communities, and by telling your neighbors when an adoption is in your area. If you are interested in assisting the BLM to ensure America’s Living Legends, mustangs and burros, are placed in good adoptive homes, please contact your local BLM Office. BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program Offices can be found at http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/state.htm.
Together, we can make a difference.
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