Burro_AlreadyThere_Meyers_Mark_SanAngeloTX_16February2023_Reel4141.mp3

Mark Meyers [00:00:00] The donkeys came across the Rio Grande in 1598 with a Spanish explorer, Juan de Onate...

Mark Meyers [00:00:08] So, they came across. They've been here ever since.

Mark Meyers [00:00:12] And so, if you do the math, 1598, that's nine years before the establishment of Jamestown, which was the first British colony. So, as the British were establishing Jamestown, the donkeys were here to see it.

Mark Meyers [00:00:28] When the Declaration of Independence was signed, that was 178 years after the donkeys were here. So, the donkeys watched that being signed.

Mark Meyers [00:00:38] So, that means the donkeys have been here a very long time.

Mark Meyers [00:00:42] The donkeys built the Spanish trails, the Catholic mission system, the railroads.

Mark Meyers [00:00:49] You know, the mules and the horses get all the credit. But it was the donkeys that carried the food for the workers. It was the donkeys that carried the explosives into the mountains to pave the way for the bigger animals to bring the equipment in.

Mark Meyers [00:01:03] The mining, you know, everybody seen the prospector with his trusty donkey... Donkeys were instrumental in the gold rush years.

Mark Meyers [00:01:13] There's just so much that donkeys have contributed to the building of this country. Their contributions have all but been forgotten, but they were instrumental in so many areas of this country's history...

Mark Meyers [00:01:26] But, let's talk about why we need to remove them. What are the reasons that they give as to why the donkeys need to be shot, or why they need to be removed? ...

Mark Meyers [00:01:38] They say, they're destructive to the ecosystem, okay, ... to the natural habitat.

Mark Meyers [00:01:46] Well, I would counter that by saying there is no natural habitat without the donkeys.

Mark Meyers [00:01:54] The donkeys have been there since 1598. Okay?

Mark Meyers [00:02:00] So Texas was founded in 1845. The donkeys were there before there was a state of Texas. Big Bend Ranch itself, give or take, you know, it was purchased from different people and built up over time. But let's just say 1958, the donkeys were already there. The state park itself founded in 1988. The donkeys were already there.

Mark Meyers [00:02:25] So, there was, really was no time that scientists could point at to say, "Okay, that was the natural state of that landscape without donkeys", because the donkeys were already there. So there is no state of that region, of that landscape, where there wasn't donkeys already there.

Mark Meyers [00:02:47] So, how can you say the donkeys are being destructive if the donkeys were already there?

Mark Meyers [00:02:52] So, white people got introduced; the donkeys were already there. The white people introduced cattle; the donkeys were already there.

Mark Meyers [00:03:02] So, how can we say the donkeys are the one causing the ecological damage, if they've already been there?

Mark Meyers [00:03:10] So then, okay, we've got to shoot all the donkeys. But, because the cattle have a historical significance, we're going to leave some cattle there.

Mark Meyers [00:03:20] So, that makes no sense to me.