I really love this story and I’m not sure why… but it’s very sweet. The last quote resonated with me. — Dan

Parents and caregivers know that at some point, it’s time for the little one you’ve raised to leave your home and start on their own adventures. But that came early in April of 2019 for Terrie and Dave Drewry of Auburn, California. The kid was only three years old at the time, and one day, he ran off one day without explanation — and disappeared.

But this isn’t a story of a missing child or a kidnapping. Because the “kid” in question wasn’t a human — it was a young donkey named Diesel. And the story has a happy ending.

Diesel was born in the wild in 2016 and likely spent his earliest years roaming around California and Nevada. But donkeys are considered an invasive species there and, in 2018, the Bureau of Land Management captured Diesel as part of a normal roundup of wild donkeys. Later that year, the Drewrys adopted the donkey and added him to their menagerie — he shared the property with chickens, a llama, and a miniature donkey, and by all accounts, he was a happy, well-adjusted burro.

But in 2019, Dave took Diesel on a hiking trip along the Cache Creek Wilderness near Clear Lake, about 80 miles northwest of Sacramento. (Here’s a map.) Something on the trail — the family suspects a mountain lion — spooked Diesel, and he bolted. Dave was dragged through the bushes before losing his grip on the lead, and just like that, Diesel was gone.

The Drewrys searched for weeks. They went on foot, on horseback, and even by drone, scouring nearly 30,000 acres of rugged terrain. A trail camera captured a glimpse of Diesel about a month later, and they found some hoof prints that might have been his. But eventually, as the BBC reported, the family “finally kind of gave up.” There were no more signs of him, and they feared the worst.

Their fears turned out to be unjustified.

Five years passed. Then, in 2024, a professional triathlete and occasional hunter named Max Fennell was hiking in the northern California wilderness when he stumbled upon a herd of at least a dozen wild elk. Among them, inexplicably, was a donkey, as seen above. Fennell filmed the scene and posted it to Instagram, calling it "probably one of my wildest hunting trips to date." In the video, the herd moves in unison, stopping to stare at Fennell. They don't move again until after sizing up the human — at which point the donkey, acting like any other member of the herd, trots off like the rest of them.

The video went viral, and Terrie Drewry saw it. She was certain the donkey was Diesel. The herd was only a few miles from where he'd first disappeared, in an area where there are no wild donkeys. "It was amazing," she told CBS News. "Finally, we saw him. Finally, we know he's good. He's living his best life. He's happy. He's healthy, and it was just a relief."

The explanation for Diesel's unusual living situation may come down to instinct. Donkeys are known to protect livestock on farms — they fiercely defend their flocks by braying, kicking, and charging at predators with teeth bared. As CNN noted, donkeys can serve as guardian animals, and Drewry suspects Diesel simply transferred those protective instincts to his new elk family. She told CBS that there are even signs Diesel has been defending the herd from danger: "He's killed coyotes protecting the herd and possibly a mountain lion."

The Drewrys have no plans to try to capture Diesel and bring him home. They've adopted new donkeys since his disappearance, and besides, catching a wild donkey in 30,000 acres of wilderness would be nearly impossible. Diesel is about eight years old now, and donkeys can live for 30 to 40 years. "He is truly a wild burro now," Drewry said. "He's out there doing what he's raised to do."

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Today’s Bonus fact: The donkey is the symbol of the Democratic Party in the United States — hardly a flattering animal for a party to choose as its avatar. The origins of the mascot date back to the election of 1828. As History.com explains, “during that race, opponents of Jackson called him a jackass. However, rather than rejecting the label, Jackson, a hero of the War of 1812 who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, was amused by it and included an image of the animal in his campaign posters.” Jackson won the election, and the donkey mascot stuck.

From the Archives: The Zoo That Made Itself Look Like a Donkey: Even donkeys deserve to be loved.

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And thanks! — Dan