After Five Years, A Missing Donkey was Found in an Elk Herd

In a touching turn of events, a donkey who vanished from California five years ago was discovered residing among a group of untamed elk.

During a hunting trip, triathlete and hunter Max Fennell recorded the extraordinary incident on tape. The video went viral online, receiving over 143k likes quickly.

The awkwardly positioned donkey amidst around a dozen elk is said to be Diesel, the cherished animal that Terrie Drewry and her husband, Dave, previously tenderly cared for.

Diesel was once a wild donkey adopted by the public under a Bureau of Land Management program that permits wild animal adoption during government roundups.

In 2019, the pet donkey vanished while trekking in the Cache Creek Wilderness with Dave. After he disappeared, a crew spent weeks looking for the missing animal, but they were tragically unsuccessful.

Terrie told CBS Sacramento, “We think it might have been a mountain lion that scared him.” “He simply fled.”

The pair, who look after other animals on their property outside Auburn, had spent weeks conducting a thorough on-foot and horseback search for Diesel. To locate their four-legged family member, they also deployed a drone.

Terrie told the publication, “We finally kind of gave up.” Simply stated, there is no evidence that him

The pair believes that five years after Diesel disappeared, he was taken in by an elk herd and is now contentedly wandering the Cache Creek Wilderness meadows with them.

His previous pet parents estimate that the lost donkey is eight years old.

Upon posting a video of the mixed herd on Instagram, Max captioned, “I ran into a herd of elk that have adopted a donkey.” “It’s incredible to see, and I’m in awe of how content and healthy the donkey appears to be,” he continued.

Terrie declared her confidence that Diesel was the donkey that Max had caught.

It was incredible. I thought, “Oh my gosh.” We finally got to see him. We may now conclude that he is good. He was living the life of his dreams. He is content. It was a comfort to hear that he’s okay,” she told the publication.

The Drewrys were happy to see their previous pet thriving in the company of a whole new species.

She continued that he has “killed coyotes protecting the herd and possibly a mountain lion,” adding that they are “two completely different creatures, but they learn to get along and be each other’s family.”

Since Diesel vanished almost five years ago, Terrie disclosed that she and her spouse had welcomed new donkeys into their household. They no longer plan to bring Diesel back home since he is now “truly a wild burro,” and it “would be next to impossible” to trap him. Terrie continued, “He’s out there doing what he was raised to do.”