Diesel the Donkey went missing five years ago and where he was just spotted has the internet going bananas

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donkey_in_Clovelly,_North_Devon,_England.jpg">Adrian Pingstone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Diesel the Donkey went missing five years ago.

His donkey and human family alike spent the entire time thinking they’d never see him again.

But Diesel the Donkey went missing five years ago and where he was just spotted has the internet going bananas.

“He’s just a sitting duck for predators”

In April of 2019, Dave Drewery loaded up his pet donkey, Diesel, and his black llama in order to go trail packing like they had many times before near their northern California home.

While they were making their way down the trail, something spooked Diesel, which caused the donkey to panic and run off with his knapsack still on.

As Dave’s wife, Terrie, explained to CBS News Sacramento, this left Diesel extremely vulnerable in the wild without his human family, as he could easily become an easy target for predators should he get tangled in the gear.

“Diesel got spooked by something and literally drug Dave through the bushes,” Terrie explained. “All of that gear can get tangled up and if he gets tangled up, he’s just a sitting duck for predators and he can’t get to water or food.”

To make matters worse, because of the steep and rough terrain around their home in Auburn, California, the Drewerys needed backup from others on horseback in order to properly search for Diesel.

They also needed the assistance of drones, which required permission from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

CBS News Sacramento reported that Diesel was missing “somewhere near the Judge Davis Trail by Wilson Valley, a part of the Cache Creek Wilderness that’s nearly 30,000 acres.”

Even more heartbreaking was the fact that Diesel wasn’t just lost and separated from his human family, but he was also separated from his donkey family, including his brother, Jack, who apparently didn’t take his absence too well.

“It’s heartbreaking especially when he starts braying, it just breaks your heart – it’s like he’s crying,” Terrie said.

“[Diesel] is a part of my family, he’s part of my pack and my pack is not complete right now,” she added.

You can’t make this stuff up

But after more than five years without even a trace of Diesel, triathlete Max Fennell was on a hunting trip when he spotted something out of the ordinary.

It was a herd of elk that had seemingly adopted a stray donkey as one of their own.

“Probably one of my wildest hunting trips to date,” Fennell wrote on Instagram. “I bumped into a herd of elk that had adopted a donkey. I can’t get over seeing it and I’m amazed that the donkey looks happy and healthy.”

And to the surprise of everyone, one of the responses to the post was from Dave Drewery, who confirmed that the donkey Fennell spotted was the one and only Diesel.

“That is in fact Diesel,” Drewery wrote. “He got away from me while packing out there 5 years ago. It was heartbreaking at the time. Glad to see he is helping the herd grow.”

After all those years and so many sleepless nights for the Drewerys, he was happy living as a member of an elk herd.

Of course, while seeing a herd of elk adopt a donkey as their own is undoubtedly an odd sight, it does make sense when you consider the fact that donkeys have long been known for guarding their herd and territory from any would-be-predators.

As a result, many farmers have long used donkeys in the same way livestock guardian dogs are used to protect herds of sheep, goats, breeding cattle, and the like.

But regardless of the reason the herd accepted Diesel or how it got there in the first place, it’s certainly nice to know that he is out there living his best life with his elk friends.

Patriot Political will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.

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