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A pet donkey disappeared in California five years ago. He’s been spotted living with a herd of wild elk


When Diesel the donkey ran away on a hike near his home outside Sacramento, California, five years ago, his owners assumed the worst.

“He’s not aggressive, he’s a lover,” Terrie Drewry told CNN affiliate KOVR in 2019, days after Diesel’s great escape. “But right now, he’s scared.”

Years passed without a sign of life from Diesel — until earlier this year, when a hunter spotted and filmed a herd of at least a dozen elk in the northern California wilderness. Among them, strangely, was a wild burro.

Drewry is positive that the donkey in the hunter’s video is her Diesel.

“Finally we saw him,” Drewry told KOVR this month after the Instagram video began making headlines. “Finally, we know he’s good. He’s living his best life. He’s happy. He’s healthy, and it was just a relief.”

The Drewry family adopted Diesel from the Bureau of Land Management, and he lived on their ranch in peace for the first few years of his life alongside chickens, a llama and a miniature donkey.


With the doom and gloom going on with the world today it's nice to see stories like this.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/us/donkey-elk-herd-california-cec/index.html

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I saw that story. Made me think of The Call of the Wild. Not the same, of course, as the donkey was originally wild, I'm assuming as he was adopted from BLM (unlike Buck the dog) but similar in that they are now living free in the wild.

Donkeys are lovely animals https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=friendly+donkey

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When I was a kid in the 70s my stepfather was a celebrity. He participated in a game of Donkey Baseball to raise money for a charity. It was an absolutely hilarious game!

https://youtu.be/xnT311kUTa0?si=bLXhaS4tXIlK1nXa

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That's awesome!

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Everyone's happy....except for the donkey.

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Really? The donkey looked happy to me. He's found a herd of deer to mix in with for companionship and safety. The donkey has it made!

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Absolutely. Maybe he did not want to be kept as a pet.

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I thought this was a Samoanjoes post lol.

We can learn a lot from animals. Happy he found his people 😊

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I'm not very good with puns so I leave it to experts.

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That donkey is living his best life. Wild and free, rage on Mr. donkey!

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The donkey looks healthy and thriving. I'm glad that the family who adopted him found out after so many years that he is doing well. What a relief for the family!

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Nice but you know some asshole is now going to shoot that donkey.

It happened with that wolf that fellow befriended years ago.

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