AWHPC’s letter also included a statement from Jennifer Garretson, DVM, a Waco, Texas veterinarian who has both professional and personal experience caring for burros and donkeys, which stated: “Temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit are considered excessive for unconditioned burros to be run for long distances during a gathering process. Burros are roughly one-half the size of wild mustangs. As a result, wild burros have shorter legs and thus shorter strides than the wild mustangs. This forces burros to expend twice the effort than that of mustangs to cover the same distance, given that they are covering roughly, ½ the distance with each stride as the wild mustang. This stride length is further reduced for burro foals. Burros also have thicker, heavier fur coats than their counterpart mustangs. This reduces the speed at which heat dissipation can occur during exertion. This can heighten their risk of experiencing heat stress, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke, which causes dehydration, lactic acid build up, exhaustion of glycogen reserves in the liver, colic, rhabdomyelitis, collapse and even death. . . The life stages that are at the highest risk of succumbing to the deleterious effects of a gathering in high heat are late-term, pregnant Jennets, foals under 1 year of age and geriatric burros (defined as 15 years and older).”