The Foreign Service Journal, May 2016

the Foreign Service journal | may 2016 43 acre of pasture. We thought about getting goats tomow the field. Instead, because of our two large dogs, we chose donkeys. These highly intelligent animals don’t run away or panic when faced with would-be predators. They stand guard and assess the situation. We discovered Long- hopes, the only globally sanctioned donkey shelter in the United States, and adopted a mother-daughter burro pair that had come from a wild herd range in the Sonoran Desert. Later Longhopes offered us a young gelding they had acquired from a local “kill pen” run by brokers who buy up unwanted equines and sell them for slaughter inMexico and Canada. The three won our hearts with their alert ears, soft eyes and savvy ways. One thing led to another. We moved to a five-acre, semi- abandoned farm and began barn-building and restoring and fencing pastures. It was then that an older Andalusian- Appaloosa who needed a home galloped into my life. A powerful steed with a dominant attitude, he challenged me to begin retraining in natural horsemanship. Next we adopted a young “wild” mustang mare from Oregon who had been a star performer in an Extreme Mustang Makeover competition in Loveland, Colorado. Then something big happened. My husband and I doubled up on riding to keep both horses in shape. The mustang and her burro friends breathed fire into me. What had previously seemed a romantic, somewhat remote quest—the fight to keep wild horses and burros safe and free on their native lands in the West—had come home. I delved deeper into the situation. In 1971 Congress unanimously passed the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to protect these free-roaming creatures that were being slaughtered for the pet food industry. Today, they are still threatened. This is not an issue that lends itself to simple solutions. The question of who benefits from our public lands is fraught with conflict, deception and misunderstanding. I have reached out to scientists and specialists in wildlife biology, wildlife fertil- ity control and animal ethics. I connected with national and grassroots organizations. I’m publishing articles and op-eds and interpreting the story of Velma “Wild Horse Annie” Johnston, one of America’s greatest unsung heroines. I joined the Board of Longhopes Donkey Shelter and recently became an adviser to The Cloud Foundation, which works to preserve wild horses and burros on our public lands. With other horse and burro fans and adopters, I founded a network called the “Wild Equid League of Colorado” to promote education and informed action on this issue. My advice for those considering retirement is this: Don’t over plan. Get engaged, because those who run the world are those who show up and roll up their sleeves. Everything you learned and applied in the Foreign Service will come into play. Albert Einstein said it well: “Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.” Charlotte Roe served as political/labor officer, environmental policy officer, science attaché, political counselor and senior labor adviser from 1983 to 2004. Her overseas posts included Bolivia, Chile, Israel, Colombia and Hungary. Mustang mare Carmelita has a conversation with Charlotte Roe shortly after her adoption. Carmelita is saying: “I’m still getting over the roundup and being separated frommy band. …Will you be my forever family?” RileySalyards