Runaway donkey spotted with herd of elk 5 years after disappearance

By IE Staff

First Published: 11:32 AM PDT, June 18, 2024

A donkey named Diesel, who escaped five years ago, was recently spotted with a herd of elk.

Terrie Drewry lost her favorite donkey, who ran away while hiking after being scared by a mountain lion.

Diesel was found on a trail camera several months later, but the search was unsuccessful. Terrie tells Inside Edition she searched for Diesel for months.

Drewry and her husband, Dave Drewry, had other donkeys, but they never stopped thinking about Diesel. Then something remarkable happened.

Max Finnel hunted in Auburn, Californiawhen he saw something strange in a herd of elk.

“I was like, 'Oh my God, there's a donkey with them.' It's the strangest thing. It was just this completely weird confusion because I'm like, 'Wait, it should just be moose,'” Finnel told Inside Edition. “What also struck me was that it was clear that the donkey was part of the herd, as if they were moving together.”

Diesel had apparently earned his place in the herd.

“It looked like the donkey might be the leader, because as Diesel moved, the other elk moved,” Finnel says. “Apparently a warden in this area had found a dead mountain lion that he suspected had been killed by a hoofed animal. They suspected that Diesel may have killed that mountain lion.

The Drewrys were stunned.

“It was amazing, it was like he was there, now we know he is alive and well and living his best life,” Terrie says. “In a perfect world, absolutely, we would love to bring him home, but the fact is he is wild and free with this herd of elk and he has earned his freedom at this point.”

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