Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 6, 1995 TAG: 9506060110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CULPEPER LENGTH: Medium
They came last weekend to bid on the perfect horse - or burro - at the federal Bureau of Land Management's auction of 95 wild horses and 65 burros, brought to Culpeper from Nevada and Arizona. Burros went for $75, horses for $125. Unweaned foals were free.
``We've never had a wild horse before,'' said Charlotte Parkhurst of Catlett, as a pair of wranglers herded into a trailer her 4-year-old bay mare and its filly. ``But we bought a book, and we're going to learn.''
Eighty-five people registered for the auction; walk-ins showed up as early as 4 a.m. for a chance to adopt the donkey or mustang of their dreams.
Burros proved to be the star attraction.
``They're hot. I compare them to Cabbage Patch dolls,'' said Joy Pasquariello, a Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman. ``They're kinda cute, and people like to keep them in their pasture and hear them bray in the morning.''
The Interior Department agency has offered the animals for adoption for 23 years under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act, which declared the animals ``living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West.''
Since 1973, more than 133,000 burros and horses have been adopted under the program. About 46,000 remain on land owned by the bureau. With no natural predators, the herds grow at a rate of 16 percent to 20 percent a year.
Adopters, who agree to care for the animals and not exploit them commercially, may gain title after one year. Violators of the agreement risk criminal prosecution.
Laura Nelson, a government lobbyist and horsewoman from Round Hill, found the perfect burro quickly, then pondered getting a horse. ``There's so much more variance'' with a horse, she said. ``A burro is just a burro. He's essentially a lawn decoration.''
by CNB