A Begging Burro
This is one of the friendly “begging burros” of Custer State Park in the Black Hills area of South Dakota.
These burros have been peaceful residents of Custer State Park for nearly a century. They were first used as pack animals to get visitors from Sylvan Lake Lodge up the steep path to the summit of Black Elk Peak, the highest point in the U.S. east of the Rockies. When those tourist trips ended, the working burros were released to the wild and the small herd have been a favorite of Custer State Park visitors ever since.
On our trip to Custer, these were my wife’s favorite and we had to stop and feed and pet the burros. She got to know them pretty well. The one pictured here is a female and the mother of a young colt. She also seemed to be the ring leader and could be pretty pushy and rude to the others when tourists would offer apples and carrots and such.
You can get a better, more detailed view of this friendly face by clicking on the photo. When you do, a larger version will open in a new browser tab.
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