Holidays past: Burros shipped east as holiday gifts

Each day through Jan. 4, we will publish stories from the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen news archives. This article is from Dec. 23, 1954.

DOUGLAS (Special) — Sad-faced baby burros have become big mail-order business this year across the nation for Christmas giving.

Dr. Fred Schmidt, Douglas veterinarian, has supplied a large quantity for an Eastern gift-supply concern, and the small “mountain canaries,” as they’re known in the Southwest, have been shipped to 47 states. There have been no Arizona orders.

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Imported from Mexico, the gift burros generally range from 3 to 6 months in age.

One of Schmidt’s burros recently made the front page of The New York Times when it ate its designation tag en route east.

The Christmas orders began coming in about four months ago, he said. The pinto burros are a rarity, but only because no one bothers to breed burros scientifically, he added.