(Jacek Jacobi / Shutterstock.com)
Who knew that birds of a feather don’t always flock together! This is the lesson that the eventual discovery of their lost pet donkey taught Californian couple, Terry and Dave Drewry, the BBC reports. Unbelievably, the couple’s pet donkey, “Diesel,” was found five years after going missing, living with a herd of wild elk!
For half a decade, a fruitless search...
After trotting off during a family hiking trip along the Cache Creek wilderness near Clear Lake, California, back in 2019, when a suspected mountain lion may have startled him, as CBS News reports, the bid to find the beloved pet donkey began.
Weeks of volunteer searches on foot, horseback, and even using a drone, left the family none the wiser. With the only shreds of evidence a single image on a trail camera, and some footprints some weeks later, however, the family lost hope.
“We finally kind of gave up,” Terry told CBS. “Just no signs of him.”
...then found living his best life!
But their story has an unexpected but happy ending! Five years on, a hiker, Max Fennell, walking in the wild terrain, just a few miles from where Diesel went missing, videoed the sight of a single donkey living among a herd of elk. He then shared the clip of this flourishing animal on social media.
“Probably one of my wildest hunting trips to date. I bumped into a herd of elk that have adopted a donkey. I can’t get over seeing it and I’m amazed that the donkey looks happy and healthy!” Fennell posted on his Instagram, and so it came to the attention of the Drewrys.
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“It was amazing. It was like, oh my gosh. Finally, we saw him. Finally, we know he's good. He's living his best life. He's happy. He's healthy, and it was just a relief,” Dave told CBS.
This is an area where there are no wild donkeys, and Diesel seems to have adapted. There are even signs that Diesel is protecting the herd by attacking local predators such as coyotes.
The couple, who have since adopted more donkeys, say they have no plans to take their former pet out of his new life, as he’s thriving as a wild burrow [small donkey]. He is now aged around eight, Dave reckons, and donkeys can live for 27 to 40 years, meaning that he has his whole life ahead of him.
Elk, also called wapiti, a Native American word meaning light-colored deer, are related to deer but are much larger than most of their relatives, reports National Georgraphic. Including its antlers, which can reach four feet, a bull or male elk can tower nine feet tall. By comparison, the average donkey stands three to four feet tall, reports Dimensions.
“Two completely different creatures, but they learn to get along and be each other's family” Terry tells the BBC.
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