Rescue plan for lonely donkey initiated in Mariposa County
After two years, rescuers are coming for Hillary the donkey.
State workers on Friday began assembling a small donkey pen on a 1acre island on the edge of Lake McClure where Hillary has been living a solitary donkey life — and in the process becoming the most famous donkey in Mariposa County.
The plan, according to environmental program manager Bob Stafford of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, is to get Hillary accustomed to the pen by stocking it with hay, food pellets and apples.
Then sometime next week, if all goes well and Hillary does her part, workers will attempt to confine her in the pen, carry it to a waiting landing craft and transport the animal by truck to donkey paradise, otherwise known as the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue facility in Amador County.
“Our hope is that we don’t have to dart the animal” with tranquilizers,” Stafford said.
Hillary has been living on the island since lake water levels rose two years ago, creating the little island and separating Hillary from her small herd. Hillary, who has a leg injury, was unable to scamper to the mainland with her donkey friends.
Since Friday, Donkey Island has been closed to all human visitors. It has become a minor tourist attraction, but authorities don’t want the regular dogooders, who over the two years have dropped off hay and other treats for Hillary, to interfere with the rescue strategy.
That means that Hillary’s best friend, a former Merced police officer named Harry Markarian, will not be paying a social call this weekend with his usual load of hay.
Markarian was the good
“Our hope is that we don’t have to dart the animal” with tranquilizers. Bob Stafford, environmental program manager of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife
hearted fellow who launched a Go Fund Me drive weeks ago to finance his own rescue attempt, only to have state officials request that he allow them to do the rescuing. Markarian refunded the $2,200 he had collected.
“I’m basically out of it now,” Markarian said. “The Department of Fish and Wildlife is doing everything.”
The wildlife folks aren’t saying exactly when the actual rescue attempt will go down, probably so as not to attract a small flotilla of donkey fans who might scare the animal and thwart the operation.
“They want to try to do this without a lot of people,” Markarian said. “They don’t want to have 100 boats around.”
Veterinarians have examined videos of Hillary and say she looks healthy, except for the leg injury, Stafford said.
The donkey will be turned over to a facility operated by the Texasbased Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue organization, whose website says it has rescued more than 10,000 donkeys in its 19yearhistory and also offers $12 stuffed donkeys for sale to help defray the cost of looking after Hillary.