The Barre Daily Times

CALIFORNIA'S WILD BURROS.
Old Desert Teamster's Plan to Capture Them.

Large droves of wild burros have been discovered in the Slate range locality, in California, says the Los Angeles Times. These burros had their beginning from those which occasionally escaped from prospecting parties or whose owners perished in the desert. The animals collected about the Slate range and through long years have accumulated until now there are hundreds of them.

Ed Baker, an old desert teamster, visited the section a few days ago and in the vicinity of Lone Willow, one of the few watering places, got sight of several droves of these wild burros. In one drove he counted fifty-five, in another thirty and in another twenty-five. He thinks there were at least 200 burros in sight when he entered the little valley.

The creatures were quietly browsing or resting here and there, but on sight of Baker the nearest droves were off up the valley. As they swept along they were joined by other droves, until the noise of their hoofs pounding on the earth as they flew along filled the valley with a continuous roar, which died away as the droves disappeared over the hills.

Baker is organizing a party to undertake the capture of these burros. They live in an isolated section where there is little water, but among the canyons of the Slate range there is an abundance of feed.

It is proposed to surround the valley where they generally feed, after building a corral at one end, and gradually chase them into the inclosure, much after the tactics used in a rabbit drive. Baker believes that there are over 1,000 burros in the vicinity.