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[Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

The typical Mexican burro is too small for any but very light loads, but 
nothing beats a bigger one in roadless, steep hill country.
They are a lot tougher and smarter than horses, not subject to diseases 
or twisting a gut, won't overeat, and take care of themselves quite 
nicely, thank you , much like a goat on bad pasture.



        

*washingtonpost.com* <http://www.washingtonpost.com/>
*Mexico Up Against a Burro Deficit*
Some Farmers Miss Their Jacks and Jennys

By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 7, 2004; Page A01

TALA, Mexico -- Men with machetes still hack at tequila-producing agave 
plants; corn stalks still sway in fields dotted with ancient stone 
churches. But one element is missing from the timeless, picturesque 
scene: There is not a burro in sight.

"There used to be 50 in every town. Now there is one, if that," said 
Nicolas Vazquez Ortega, a ranch manager. "Before you used to see packs 
of mules and donkeys in the fields when you were driving along the road. 
Now they are disappearing."

Although it seems as improbable as Hawaii running out of pineapples or 
France without Beaujolais, Mexico has a shortage of donkeys. As farmers 
abandon the countryside for big cities, move to the United States or 
shift to tractors and cargo trucks, burros -- long a backbone of Mexican 
agriculture and a symbol of Mexican life -- have become increasingly scarce.

This trend has so alarmed officials in Jalisco, one of Mexico's most 
important agricultural states, that they are planning to import donkeys 
from Kentucky to revive the dwindling population. The project, they 
said, will bring economic benefits to ailing rural areas, where many 
poor farmers still depend on beasts of burden.

Donkeys, first brought to Mexico by conquering Spaniards at the turn of 
the 16th century, have long been a stereotype of rural Mexican life. 
Even today, said Martin Martinez Cervantes, a Jalisco rural development 
official, some tourists still expect to find "every Mexican riding a 
donkey."

But those days are gone. In fact, many farmers have shunned donkeys 
because of their negative association with poverty and backwardness, 
officials said. Now, as the animals have started disappearing, people 
are "realizing their importance," Martinez said.

Both donkeys, known as burros throughout Mexico, and mules, produced by 
cross-breeding horses and donkeys, have gained belated respect as their 
numbers have diminished. Farmers say they cause less damage than 
machines amid the tight rows of blue agave, the spike-leaved plants that 
produce tequila. Coffee growers in other states say they get better 
traction than trucks on highland slopes. And in many remote areas with 
no roads, they are still the only ride home.

Martinez said the demand for donkeys began to dwindle as more young, 
rural Mexicans relocated to the United States and began sending home 
enough money for their parents to buy a tractor or a pickup. 
Increasingly, donkeys were sent to slaughterhouses or not replaced when 
they died. Now, he said, the demand has outstripped the supply.

International promoters of the donkey argue that these sturdy quadrupeds 
are stronger than horses, easier to care for and more resistant to hot 
temperatures; they said mules are even hardier. "They are growing in 
popularity," said Leah Patton of the American Donkey and Mule Society in 
Texas, which works to correct what she described as "a lot of 
misinformation" about donkeys, including the notion that they are not 
especially bright.

Even if few people know a jack from a jennet, or jenny -- as male and 
female donkeys are called -- there is growing appreciation of the donkey 
as "an efficient working machine with a longer life span than a car and 
the ability to get into places that cars can't," Patton added.

In some parts of Mexico, especially the poor southern states of Oaxaca 
and Guerrero, there is no dire donkey shortage. But Francisco Lugo 
Serrano, the Jalisco official leading the import project, said their 
numbers have greatly diminished in many other regions, particularly in 
the more developed north.

The donkeys that remain tend to be small, often more than a head shorter 
than their American cousins, Lugo said. He plans to import about 50 
Kentucky donkeys and breed them with Mexican horses to produce mules, as 
well as creating a national breeding center that will strengthen Mexican 
donkey stock.

Steve Aaron, a retired surgeon and health official in Kentucky, is 
scheduled to come to Mexico later this month to give a PowerPoint 
presentation on the Mammoth Jack breed. He doesn't use the word donkey, 
which he said, "means a small gray animal," but calls his animals 
"mammoths." Aaron said his big-boned animals are descendants of the jack 
and jennet that the King of Spain famously sent to George Washington in 
1785.

Aline Alija, a veterinarian in Mexico City, said donkeys have long been 
a "symbol of underdevelopment" because poor people owned them. She is 
working on a program, funded by British donkey protection associations, 
that sends teams of veterinarians into the Mexican countryside looking 
for neglected and overworked donkeys in need of medical attention.

Some farmers who shunned donkeys for the efficiency and status of more 
modern machines regret their haste.

"They are so useful and such hard workers," said Vazquez, who manages a 
ranch in this scenic town of 50,000. A few years back, his farm 
purchased a jack from Kentucky, who was mated with nine mares and 
produced nine strong mules. "We need more of them."

Felipe de Jesus Padilla Robles, 81, a farmer in Tala, said he always 
took good care of his donkey, whom he has now outlived. For years, he 
said, the two of them worked alongside each other in the sugar cane and 
corn fields. "We understood each other," he said.

As more farmers become nostalgic about their donkeys, the nation's 
largest annual donkey festival has surged in popularity. This year, 
30,000 people attended the Otumba Donkey Festival, held May 1 near 
Mexico City.

The festival featured donkey polo, donkey racing and a costume contest 
in which burros were dressed as famous figures. They included Mexican 
President Vicente Fox and President Bush.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company