This is a sad story with a very happy ending - - - or beginning! This is about Saul, who is a 7 year old donkey. He was running wild in Havasu, Arizona as a weanling foal when he was captured by the Bureau of Land Management and shipped to Colorado, then Alabama to be adopted with another weanling foal-Sara. Four years later Saul and Sara made their way back to Colorado when their owner sold them for slaughter. When they arrived at Longhopes in March 2001, they were both painfully thin. Sara was terrified of people and both had long hooves. In addition to some needed training, and trimming, Saul was castrated.
Due to Saul’s incredibly sweet, trusting nature the pair were quickly adopted by a family in Conifer, who also welcomed the birth of Sara’s jack foal . However, when the family split in 2003, Saul and Sara again found themselves homeless.
Pursuant to our adoption contract, Saul, Sara and their foal, Quixote, returned to Longhopes. Luckily the Conifer family had given them great care, so they returned healthy. However, we feared we would never find anyone willing to take all three of them, so the difficult decision was made to adopt Saul out with another gelding and allow Sara and Quixote to remain together.
A family in Parker soon arrived to adopt Saul and another donkey, Rudy. A Longhopes adoption alumni then adopted Sara and Quixote. It briefly appeared Longhopes had salvaged a good adoption out of a tragic history. However, in the summer of 2004 the Parker family announced that they could no longer take care of them, so Saul was again returned to Longhopes.
Being extremely handsome, youthful, and having his abiding trust intact, Saul remained a very adoptable donkey but humans had failed him so many times already. Were you counting? He was moved a minimum of 10 times. So, instead of looking for a new owner, the Longhopes Board decided to try reuniting Saul with Sara and Quixote.
Delightfully, the adopters of Sara and Poquito in Westcliffe eagerly agreed to let Saul join their herd (Sara, Quixote, Jillian and Jake- all Longhopes Alumni who have been featured in our newsletter).
Admittedly, it is dangerous to attribute human emotions to donkeys, but burros are so intuitive it is scary. In jest, a Longhopes volunteer told Saul he was going to be with Sara and Poquito in 9 days. He really seemed to understand. When the Longhopes’ trailer finally arrived in Westcliffe, Sara seemed to recognize Saul’s smell. She frantically began to paw at the fence to get to him. Moments later they were reunited after 16 months apart.. Poquito, now a grown-up gelding bigger than his parents, welcomed Saul too. The three of them then went off together so Sara could show Saul his new 35-acre pasture. It was a tearful day for everyone but Saul.
As the Longhopes volunteers said their goodbyes, Saul turned his back to them as if to make it clear he had no intention of going with them. They understood.
Note: Following is an excerpt from an email that Kathy received from Saul’s new owners a few days after the reunion:
We were saying to the two volunteers who brought Saul to us that five looks a lot bigger than four!! Somehow, five donkeys just look much more like a herd!
Saul is moving right in with only minor challenges coming from the general direction of Quixote. The youngster is not so keen on sharing his mom with ANYONE, let alone another male donkey. He won't allow Saul to eat with he and Sara though Jake and Jillian readily make room for him to eat with them. Sara has been rather shy with Saul almost as if she's not so keen on hooking up with him again only to find disappointment one more time. Yesterday, I looked out and saw Sara hanging out in the arena while all the other donkeys were out - or so I thought - as I looked more closely, I saw that Saul was in the arena with her. They were both just being together away from the other three, napping in the sun, reconnecting. It was so beautiful!! And, it is great to see Sara actually getting a break from Quixote and his endless need to have her in sight at all times!
So...I do believe the family is re-uniting at its own beautiful pace. Quixote is a little bit panicked at times - afraid of losing his mom - which I think is really, really a good thing!! He gets to find out that he's O.K. and actually a very capable and wise donkey. AND, Jake and Saul have been playing like crazy! I think Jake is so happy to have another adult male here!! It is great fun to watch Jake rearing in the air showing us all what aging gracefully really looks like...
Thank you again, Kathy, for making this possible for us and for the donkeys. I know we also did you a favor - it's just so great when it works out so wonderfully for everyone!
*By contract any Longhopes donkey may be returned to Longhopes if the adopters become unable to keep the donkey. Out of 150 adoptions 16 donkeys have been returned and all but 2 have been readopted.
