Jake Donkey
Jake – Mini Donkey
One day while looking on Craigslist for farm supplies, a photo of an adorable miniature donkey laying in the middle of a dirt road popped up. I clicked on it and saw that this beautiful guy was up for adoption. I was not in the market for a donkey, but we were just starting the farm, and I thought that he might be a nice addition. The add read something like this:
“Need to rehome our donkey to a farm where he will have room to roam. Friendly, has a limp, but otherwise healthy. Rehoming fee will apply.” I immediately called the number and left a message as well as sent an email. Something told me that this guy belonged at Heartbeat Farm.
She called me back and gave me an address to come see him. Since we were out in our car, and nearby where she was, we decided to drive over, and if it worked out, I could come back with the horse trailer the next day. We pulled up to a yard with a horse and a limping donkey behind a fence that didn’t look very secure. As we knocked on the door of the very run-down trailer, we could hear a dog barking and as the sound of him got louder, we see him coming from the back of the house. He freaked us out, and we were trapped on the small porch, so unless someone opened the door and let us in, we were close to being attacked. I tried to calmly talk to the dog who was at this point baring his teeth, but he was not buying it. I kept knocking on the door, but no one was answering. Suddenly from around the back of the house appeared a small child who called the dogs name and he backed off. Right behind her was a woman with a baby in her arms, who was also calling the dog. After we let out a sigh of relief, she said that she was going into the hospital and needed him gone asap. I told her that we would be back the next day to get him and left. We could see that she was not in a good way. She said that she didn’t live there and was leaving the next day, so she had to have Jake gone.
The next morning, I called a friend of mine to come and help me since my husband was unavailable, I also had my 8-year-old grandson with me. We set up the horse trailer with hay and feed and we headed 40 minutes back to the Jake and sick woman with the two small children. I stopped at the ATM to get the $150 rehoming fee and when we pulled up, I was surprised to see the horse gone, as was the only car that was in the driveway the day before. I called her and there was no answer. The Jake was roaming the property and not contained at all. I wasn’t sure at that point if he got out of this poor excuse for a fenced in area, or he was let out. Either way he was not going to be easy to catch now. Before I went to the door, I told my grandson to stay in the truck (thinking of the dog), and then made my way to knock on the door. No answer, no dog, no people. I tried to call her, but it kept going straight to voicemail. I left her a message that I hoped that she was okay, and I would be taking Jake, and would she please leave me a message as to how I could get the money to her. I suddenly became worried that maybe Jake didn’t really belong to her, and I was now stealing someone’s donkey. It all seemed so sketchy, but we proceeded to chase and halter him. He put up great resistance, as seen in the photo, and it also began to rain, so this was becoming harder and harder to accomplish. However, in the end we got him loaded and off we went. Days went by before I heard back from the woman. She left a message that the Donkey was $350 not the $150 that I was originally told, but because her situation was obviously so bad, I didn’t say a world and sent her the money. Jake was worth it. He needed a good home, and I had one to give him.
The limp that he had I found out was from poor nutrition, and today he walks, runs and is living his best life.
I often think about that sweet little family who appeared from behind the run-down trailer calling off the pit bull that wanted to take a bit out of me. I felt that they needed rescue just as much as Jake did, but there was little I could do except give her some money to help her along. I pray that their life is better today, and that somewhere along the way they got the help and support that they truly deserved.