By Henry Brean of The Las Vegas Review-Journal

Someone is killing wild burros near the Nye County town of Beatty.

Over the past 10 days, 13 burros have been found shot to death on public land within about 10 miles of the town 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Bureau of Land Management is investigating with assistance from the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, which fielded the first report of three dead burros on May 5.

BLM spokesman Kyle Hendrix said 10 more carcasses have been found since then. Due to the location and similar cause of death, the killings are believed to be related.

Hendrix didn’t have a lot of details about the dead animals other than they were a mix of males and females. He also couldn’t pinpoint where the animals were found within the BLM’s 157,000-acre Bullfrog Herd Management Area.

Nye County authorities indicated some of the dead burros were found in Chuckwalla Canyon, about five miles southeast of Beatty.

Wild horses and burros are federally managed and protected under the Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

Hendrix said illegally killing a burro is a federal crime punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,000 fine.

The BLM asks anyone with information about the case to contact the agency at 1-800-521-6501.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.