DUNCAN, B.C. — When she first met the donkey, Michelle Singleton says the animal was depressed.
“His original name was Eeyore,” Michelle says. “Which kind of tells you he was a sad, lonely donkey.”
Not only had his owner recently died, Michelle says that Eeyore had spent his whole life in a backyard by himself, which is detrimental for herd animals.
“He needs to be with other donkeys,” Michelle says.
While Michelle waited for other rescue donkeys to join him at her Home for Hooves Farm Sanctuary, they renamed him Earl.
They also set him up on playdates with other animals.
“Which he didn’t particularly care for – especially big pigs” Michelle says. “He was like, ‘Who is this?!’”
If Earl couldn’t play with someone, Michelle wondered if the donkey would Iike to play with something and gave him a large yellow yoga ball.
“The excitement was just pure joy for him,” Michelle smiles, showing video of Earl grabbing the ball with his mouth and throwing it in the air, running and jumping on it, and pushing the ball with his nose and chasing it around the field.
Earl and his yoga ball were inseparable. The donkey was transformed.
“He just had the time of his life,” Michelle smiles. “He had so much fun.”
He played with the ball day and night, countless hours over two weeks, until one morning Michelle discovered the donkey heartbroken.
“His ball was deflated, ”Michelle says, “He was trying to play with it.”
After realizing Earl’s ball was beyond repair, Michelle shared the donkey’s dilemma on social media and eventually received donations of almost 40 balls from across the province.
“He was like a kid in a candy store,” Michelle says. “This was the greatest thing ever.”
And even better, Michelle hoped, was the arrival of a trio of rescue donkeys. But Earl hadn’t been around his kind since he was a baby, and was awkward.
“He doesn’t really know what to do,” Michelle says. “Or what’s acceptable behaviour.”
Although the trio tried to teach Earl how to be a donkey, he spent the next six months on the other side of a fence from them. Until just this week, Earl learned to change his behaviour and was finally accepted, and now shares the same space with them.
“It’s really nice for him to be part of a family and do donkey things together,” Michelle smiles. “This was the life we wanted him to have and now he has it.”
And, after Michelle recently noticed a couple of the other donkeys playing with one of his balls, it’s possible Earl could convince them all to form a ball team together.
