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Drought blamed for donkey abandonment in Texas

Updated at 05:20 PM today

  

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Donkeys in Texas are being turned loose in growing numbers because the state's worst drought since the 1950s has made them too costly to keep and their owners can't sell them, according to sheriffs' departments and animal rescue operations.

The San Antonio Express-News reported Saturday that cash-strapped owners are freeing them on the sides of roads and leaving the animals' fate up to law enforcement agencies and a determined group of donkey rescue operations.
"Donkey rescues have gone through the roof," said Mark Meyers, executive director of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, a California-based nonprofit with a 260-acre rescue ranch near San Angelo. The ranch is now housing about 500 donkeys, its largest number ever.
Texas alone has brought 500 donkeys into the group's care since March, Meyers said. That's 100 more donkeys than the organization rescued nationally last year.
"There are so many coming in, we're having a hard time keeping up," Meyers said.
Donkeys probably are being abandoned at a faster rate than horses, but rising feed costs associated with the drought are behind both trends, said Darla Cherry, president of Meadow Haven Horse Rescue in Nixon, near San Antonio.
"You can't sell them or give them away, and you can't feed them, so you're stuck," Meyers said. "They're just releasing them on someone else's property."
Sheriffs' departments in Texas are responsible for picking up abandoned livestock and trying to reunite the animals with their owners. Charles Paul, a Navarro County deputy sheriff who handles abandoned animals, said horse owners at times reclaim their animals but donkey owners rarely do.
Instead of euthanizing the animals, departments have looked to groups such as Peaceful Valley to care for the donkeys.
Meyers said long-term care of each donkey runs about $1,000, so his group's resources are being stretched thin. The group puts rescued donkeys up for adoption, but in Texas, few people have been interested, he said.
Both Meyers and Cherry said they need donations to keep up with the growing problem. Peaceful Valley receives less than 5 percent of its donations from Texas, while 95 percent of its rescue budget is being applied to Texas this year, Meyers said.