Retired officer tries to rescue donkey stuck on small island
Life is plenty complicated these days for Hillary the donkey.
She’s all by herself on a small island in the middle of Lake McClure in rural Mariposa County. She’s been stranded there for two years.
Nobody knows what to do about it. The latest donkey rescue plan just got scuttled by the authorities, so Hillary is staying put for now.
It’s an unbearable situation for retired Merced cop Harry Markarian, who has become Hillary’s primary human friend, even though Hillary runs away whenever Markarian cruises over in his boat to pay a social call and drop off a load of hay.
“I’m an animal lover,” he said. “We human beings are supposed to do what we can do to help. This is a tough situation.”
Hillary, it seems, was part of a small herd of donkeys left over from a local mining operation. The rest of the herd was able to scamper to the mainland when the water levels of Lake McClure rose and created the island, but Hillary was left behind, apparently because of a broken leg.
There she has remained, with a slight limp but otherwise healthy, cut off from all donkey companionship and the other pleasures of Mariposa County.
The other donkeys in the herd are on shore, about a quarter mile away. They bray at Hillary across the water, and Hillary brays back.
“It’s something to hear,” Markarian said.
Meanwhile, the humans keep passing the buck. Markarian said the local animal shelter said Hillary was the responsibility of the local irrigation district, which administers the lake. The irrigation district said to try the feds. The feds said to try the state.
Markarian decided to take action himself and last month launched a social media fundraising campaign on GoFundMe, complete with a photo of the lonely donkey on her island.
“We need funds to rescue this wild donkey,” Markarian said in his fundraising plea. “She’s stuck on this island. She is running out of natural food. We would like to gather some funds to help pay for our vet, volunteers and equipment. I assure you all the funds will be used only to rescue this animal.”
He gathered $2,220 in a week.
His plan was to tranquilize Hillary, with the help of a veterinarian friend, and take her by boat and truck to a refuge in Vacaville that had agreed to look after her.
But it’s not that easy to do a donkey a favor. Markarian said state officials got wind of the plan and told him a citizen can’t just go around moving wild donkeys. They told him to shut down the GoFundMe page, which Markarian did. He gave back the $2,200 to the donors.
That broke Markarian’s
heart. He contacted California environmental program manager Bob Stafford of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and invited him to visit Hillary with him. The two men did so Wednesday.
“He got to see the situation,” Markarian said. “He said they’re going to do something about it.”
Stafford said that the animal appeared “in decent enough condition” during his brief visit to Donkey Island with Markarian. He said he approached within about 20 yards of Hillary before she expressed her displeasure.
“She started making snorting noises,” Stafford said.
The fish and game man said he is drawing up a relocation plan in conjunction with veterinarians and that Hillary could be moving soon, perhaps as early as this week. The tentative plan is to have her go to a refuge.
He said he appreciated Markarian’s efforts to move Hillary but that it was “better for the animal if we do it.”
In the meantime, Hillary seems more or less content. Local fishermen, residents and donkey dogooders, in addition to Markarian, drop off treasures, such as alfalfa, carrots and apples. These Hillary is obliged to share with local deer, who are able to swim over to her island and are not averse to helping themselves.
Some say Hillary’s situation is just nature doing its thing, and nature is not always nice. Nature sometimes involves broken donkey legs. Bring Hillary to shore, and she could soon fall victim to mountain lions that roam the area. Bring Hillary to shore, and the other donkeys may reject her company.
Maybe, some say, she’s better off on her island, with the hay handouts, with the humans keeping their distance.
“Some say let nature take its course,” Markarian said. “To me, that’s a copout. What nature? It’s a manmade lake.”
And if the water levels rise, Hillary’s island could get swallowed up like other bits of land in the lake. Then Hillary would have something serious to bray about.
“We have to do something,” Markarian said. “If we humans can save her, that’s what we’re supposed to do. Where’s your human heart?”