The "Nubian Wild Ass" donkeys of Bonaire, which are a Critically-Endangered species on the IUCN Red List, have lived on the island of Bonaire longer than the oldest living human on the island for at least 400 years. "invasive species"? How ridiculous.
---------- Post added August 2nd, 2014 at 09:06 PM ----------
Additional follow-up report by Wildlife Ecologist, Member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and President of the Andean Tapir Fund/Wild Horse and Burro Fund, Craig C. Downer's research trip to Bonaire - released August 2, 2014:
Additional Observations and Ideas concerning my Trip to Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, to Assess the Status of its Rare Population of Wild Donkeys and their Situation
By Craig C. Downer, Wildlife Ecologist, President: Andean Tapir Fund/Wild Horse and Burro Fund, P.O. Box 456, Minden, NV 89423 T. 775-901-2094. Email:
ccdowner@aol.com
August 2
nd, 2014
Bonaire is a delightful, tropical desert island that lies in the southern Caribbean ocean just 126 miles northwest of Caracas, Venezuela, but only 63 miles to the northeast of the Venezuelan coast at its closest point. I visited this island for the first time between July 12
th and 27
th, 2014, to see what I could do as a wildlife ecologist to give the wild donkeys here a reprieve and hopefully a reinstatement upon this their home island, where they have been blamed by a certain overweening minority for nearly every perceived problem. I discovered that the donkeys are really not to blame, but are being used as scapegoats for the ecological and safety problems that our kind is causing.
Meetings With and Tours Given By Bonaireans
I was hosted by Mr. Al Catalfumo, head of the NGO: Citizens for a Better, Safer, Animal-Friendly Bonaire as well as by his daughter Mrs. Rona Alguilar, who is also with the We Care For Bonaire NGO and that was also my host. I was joined by competent Montana graduate filmmaking student J.D. Moore from Missoula during most of my two + weeks on the island. Also, in addition to Rona and Al former Bonaire governor Raymundo P. Saleh guided me to points of interest, and I was introduced to an impressive array of Bonaireans: including businessmen, divers, mechanics, farmers, park rangers, biologists, and tourist guides. I had the good fortune to meet with the present Bonairean Governor Edison Rijna, who, on Friday the 18
th of July, listened respectfully to what I had to say as well as to others on the team. This meeting took place in his historic presidential office in downtown Kralendijk. Governor Rijna is a native Bonairean and values the donkeys presence on the island. I felt that he displayed much sympathy for the ongoing plight of the wild donkeys, but hoped that he would act immediately to stop their ongoing elimination from the island as a vital, long-term-viable population.
We had met earlier in the week (July 15
th) with biologist Frank Von Slabbe who oversees the donkey elimination project and gave him many points supportive of the wild donkeys; yet at the end of the day he seemed unwilling to call off the ongoing capturings and castrations of all the donkeys. We told him these donkeys are critically endangered as judged by IUCN Species Survival Commission as well as being positively contributing presences on Bonaire (see my earlier report and summary); and we insisted that the current program is placing this very rare and unique population in imminent danger of disappearing. Though I carefully explained to Mr. Von Slabbe and the other government workers present how the donkeys contribute positively to the ecosystem and that there is a strong and mounting evidence that these donkeys are a very pure remnant of the Critically Endangered (CR) Nubian Wild Ass, Von Slabbe stubbornly maintained that he would do nothing to stop the current program. I even gave him a copy of my peer-reviewed scientific article with references and presenting evidence backing up my assertionis. (It is noteworthy that he did not show up for my public talk on the evening of Friday, July 25
th.) In my opinion, he is either himself helping to drive the elimination of these donkeys or doing the will of others who hold control over his job and give him his orders. The latter may be the case. He did recommend our groups taking this issue up again before the Island Council. During our lengthy morning meeting, there were times in which he indicated that there were sectors of Bonaire, such as the extensive Bolivia sector, where he thought the wild donkeys could continue to live in the wild. He also suggested that I could serve as an appraiser of the donkey program and that I submit a proposal along the lines of the Reserve Design concept I had described.
Along with Raymundo P. Saleh, I also met with the newly appointed head of SINAPA, the agency over the national parks and wildlife of Bonaire. This is Johan Ulfman (? Spelling) who recently arrived from Holland to take his post. He listened carefully to what I had to say and received my eight-page report, as well as my scientific article. All this he did seemingly with keen interest, promising to carefully read these and to pass my papers on to his chief biologist for perusal.
My Public Talk Defending the Place of the Bonairean Donkey
I gave a public talk on the evening of Friday, July 25
th, accompanied by a power-point presentation. A significant number of interested and influential Bonaireans came, including Island Council members. Al and Rona also spoke, and much concern over the fate of the Bonairean wild donkeys was expressed. All in attendance concurred that it is imperative that immediate and significant alterations in the donkey program, namely an immediate halt to all further capturings and castrations, be made now. This must be done to save the last remaining of Bonaires Wild Donkeys, thought legal means if necessary. All agreed that a professional study should be made to determine the best possible course of action both for the donkeys and for Bonaire.
By the way, Rona and I personally invited the veterinarian who is castrating the male donkeys to my talk, but he did not come. He displayed a hostile attitude when we went to his office during the afternoon before the talk, uttering some rude statement about our telling more lies. A group of castrated donkeys were observed near his office in the late afternoon. When I got out of the car to photograph them, they became utterly terrified, perhaps because I reminded them of their painful and traumatizing operation. Perhaps my tallness and gringo appearance reminded them of the veterinarian and of the operation. At least this is what I surmised. One large donkey seemed very upset and whirled and crashed into the bushes in a terrified manner.
My Attempt to Visit the Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary and what I gathered concerning this
My attempt to visit the Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary, run by Marina Melis, met with her rude refusal to allow me even to peacefully observe. I was able to hear her introductory talk, however, before she recognized me, perhaps from a flyer for my talk that night that had been recently sent to her. So I was never afforded the opportunity to observe any of the captured donkeys, many of which are females or young.
Many of the older males that her well-funded program castrates are merely set out to wander on the island. I believe that their depressed state and pain as well as loss of their family and social ties is making them more prone to accidents, especially collisions with typical speeding traffic of Bonaire. This occurs especially when they come to the human-inhabited areas of the island such as to find water or food. Too many of the wells in the hinterlands, or mundi, of the island have either been shut off or fallen into disrepair, as I observed during my tours of the island. One solution is to reactivate these wells so as to provide a permanent water source for these donkeys and to relocate the donkeys to these more remote areas, where they should be at first kept in an enclosure that is as large as possible, until they become accustomed to their new natural home. This is the humane and caring way, not more elimination and set up for their total elimination. Bonaires wild donkeys have inhabited the island for five centuries! It should also be mentioned that the concentration of the jennies and their young at Marina Melis Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary is also reported to be causing many of the related donkeys in the wild to come to the edge of the sanctuary and call for their family members. This is very sad, and is also, I am told by residents, responsible for some of the automobile accidents with these socially disrupted donkeys.
Marina Melis introduction to the sanctuary was very emotional as she claimed her project was rescuing the donkeys from a tragic fate in the wild where they did nothing but overpopulate and destroy the natural world. She seemed totally oblivious of any of their positive attributes, contributions and self-limiting capabilities and gave them absolutely no credit as a valuable wildlife species in their own right. After she recognized who I was, she became very aggressive, asking me my name and why I came to the sanctuary. After I tried to say that I was just there to view the donkeys peacefully, she ordered me off her property immediately, to which I quickly complied, as she had become very red in the face and was very threatening in her gestures and tone of voice. Because I did not want to create a scene in front of all the tourists, including mothers and children at the entrance building and gift shop, I merely left this scene. The family group I was with were so disturbed by the rude behavior, they also left, picking me up in their rented vehicle. Together we returned to our inn. It seems to me that if Marina Melis were at all reasonable and fair and had nothing to hide, she would have gladly given me a tour of her donkey sanctuary so as to convince me that what she was doing was right. As it turned out, I was unable to view the ca. 500 captured donkeys there and to assess their condition as a professional wildlife biologist.
Observations of Pitiful State of Released, Castrated, and Set-Up as well as Still-Uncaptured Donkeys on Bonaire, including the Crucial Issue of Automobile Accidents involving Wild Donkeys
Solutions
Nonetheless, I was able to observe many donkeys throughout the island during my two+ week stay here. I saw many of the males with ear tags that the Bonaire Donkey Sanctuary veterinarian(s) had castrated. The latter seemed very depressed and some were even morose. They were mostly lethargic in their movements and demeanor. A few, however, seemed utterly terrified and flew into a panic at my approach, perhaps recalling their capture and castration by a man of my similar height and appearance. I really felt for these fellow mammals and long-time companions of man. Many were observed as they wandered along at the edge of the streets of Kralendijk and other areas with concentrated or fast- moving traffic. I sincerely hope that these will soon be relocated to more natural parts of the island with permanent water sources available/restored for them and where they can live out their lives in relative peace, after all that has been done to them and their families.
I also observed some extremely emaciated or recently killed wild donkeys:
The very first donkey I saw on July 13 was an emaciated, light greyish-white male, who was near the oil tanks on the northwestern portion of the island in the Brasil sector (see my pictures of this poor donkey). About two-thirds of his left ear had been torn off, probably where the orange plastic tag had been affixed. It was so pitiful to see him in his last days, and I suspect he was one of the cruelly traumatized older males that the so-called donkey rescue project had rescued. As the saying goes: With friends like this, you need no enemies! Here is how I described him in my handwritten notes: One light grey male was emaciated and seemed on his last legs a case of extreme neglect. It appeared that he had torn off an ear tag from his left ear, as most of the ear was missing. His body was reduced to mere skin and bones and he barely had the energy to move. Nonetheless he made every effort to get away from us humans, as though bearing a profound aversion, as indicated by his turning his head away.
One female, or jenny, had just been struck by an automobile and lay at the side of a road just to the south of the town of Rincon (see my pictures of this orangish brown donkey). The glisten was still in her eyes and she was most likely a victim of thoughtless speeders in their vehicles, as I observed much speeding in excess of the posted speed limits throughout the island. It is absolutely urgent that steps be taken to reduce the velocity of automobiles driven both by citizens of and visitors to Bonaire! In my other report I have given some recommendations of how to deal with this speeding crisis that is also resulting in many human deaths and the two pro-wild-donkey NGOs have some brilliant solutions here.
Here are some more of my pertinent notes: I observe how fast people drive, often exceeding by two or three times the posted speed limits both in and out of town, and this includes both Bonairean citizens and visiting tourists in their rental vehicles. There is a serious lack of speed controls such as speed bumps as well as a lack of strict enforcement of the speed limits. There is an urgent need for a public education program here including for the visitors with serious penalties.
In my earlier report, I recommended several remedies to this speeding problem, many of which coincide with those that have been repeatedly presented by the NGOs Citizens for a Better, Safer, and Animal Friendly Bonaire and We Care for Bonaire. As gathered from the meetings I attended, this traffic crisis is being used most strongly to justify the elimination of Bonaires wild donkeys. This is so unfair! This is a people problem and it is so unjust to lay it all on the wise and innocent donkeys! Lets learn to share the world we live in with such wise and ancient, positively contributing presences and quit being such slobs!
It is clear to me that stepped-up preventative measures should include opening up wells in remote natural sectors of the island, such as Bolivia (that even biologist Frank Von Slobbe seemed to agree on). This would permit the donkeys to reoccupy the Bonairean sectors served by these wells. It would prevent accidents when combined with other measures described in my earlier report. The current program merely sets the donkeys up for extinction. Under this program, castrated and traumatized male donkeys wander around Bonaire including in Kralendijk and Rincon until they die, often of depression or from automobile accidents or from poisoning, according to Bonaireans I have spoke with. The current program is a prescription for more accidents and suffering and death, both for donkeys and people. Positive and well-thought-out steps must be taken immediately to remedy this situation!
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