LOS ANGELES — Federal authorities are investigating the killing of five wild burros who were found shot to death near life-giving springs on the western edge of Death Valley National Park, where 20-mule teams once pulled wagons of borax.
The National Park Service said it was one of the largest illegal killings of its kind in Death Valley, which is home to roughly 4,000 burros — descendants of the pack animals that miners and prospectors used more than a century ago.
Details about the investigation were scarce. “The burros were killed with a low-caliber firearm not typically used to hunt big game,” park Ranger Nichole Andler said Friday. “They were all together in one area of lower Wildrose Canyon.”
