Most of you know by now that we went to Colorado with the intention of adopting one burro and ended up coming home with two.
When we arrived at the East Canon Correctional Complex on Friday morning, we discovered we were the only ones there for burro adoption. I had to stifle a guffaw when the man in charge looked directly at me and with laughing eyes said, “There’s one rule for you today. Don’t fall in love with the babies. There’s two of them down there and you can’t take them yet.” I think the look on my face in response was probably along the lines of, “What? Why are you looking at me? Is it that obvious that I want to load each and every single one of the burros you’ve got here on our trailer and hightail it out of here right this second?”
As we walked down the hill to the burro pens, my emotions were all over the place. I willed myself not to cry. “There’s no crying in prison!”, I told myself. And then, suddenly, there they were. Two pens full of burros. What a gorgeous sight. What beautiful animals. There were indeed two babies; one born just the day before and the other born on March 31st. Oh my. It took all I had not to run right in there and put my arms around them. They were ALL ears and legs and fuzz. And jumping and bucking without a care in the world. I remember saying to Don, “That’s what Bernard must have looked like as a baby! Can you just imagine?!”
And then there was the jenny with the broken ear. And the gentle grey jenny who kept going to Don to have her head scratched. The image of their faces is etched in my mind. All the while, I kept telling myself, “Let him pick you.”
Thank goodness Don – the best husband in the world – was there to keep me focused. We walked into the pen with the jacks. As we walked around that pen, it was like ripples on a pond. As we moved, the jacks moved away from us. Except for one, who moved toward us. Burro number 2493; now known as Fergus. I remember thinking how soft and fluid his eyes were – they were so doe-like, so beautiful. He walked up to Don and lipped Don’s fingers, and then did the same to me. Don and I looked at each other in amazement.
But wait, there was another burro. While all of the other jacks continued to hang back, this guy was ever trying to summon up the courage to move closer. It was as if he wanted or needed to stay close to Fergus. He was burro number 2492; now known as Nigel. The strong bond between them was obvious and we couldn’t stand the thought of breaking it.
Turns out that Fergus and Nigel have identical “capture data.”
Date: September 27, 2009
Location: CAOOOZ Outside Herd Area (Ft. Irwin)
City: Barstow, CA
County/State: San Bernardino/CA
This means that they’ve most likely been with each other all their lives. It’s even possible that they’re siblings. According to the BLM, Fergus is two years old and Nigel is three.
The area in which they were captured lies between Fort Irwin Army training center and Death Valley National Park. With summer high temperatures commonly running above 120 degrees F, Death Valley is one of the hottest places on earth. This explains why Fergus and Nigel have such short coats.
As we completed a small hill of paperwork and waited for Fergus and Nigel to be loaded into our trailer, we had the opportunity to talk with and observe staff from BLM and the Wild Horse Inmate Program (both paid staff and prisoners, who were working with wild mustangs). Across the board, it was clear that all of these people have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the horses and burros that they work with every day. And their jobs are not easy or without challenge. As we were preparing to leave, I told wonderful Lona from the BLM that I had a pretty good idea that we’d be seeing her again someday.
April 19, 2010 at 10:39 am
Awww…they chose to go home with you. How wonderful that you were so open and willing to taking them both so they could remain together. It just makes me tear up to think about it. They are two very lucky burros. Give them hugs from Wisconsin, please.
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April 19, 2010 at 11:12 am
Lord, it’s a good thing you couldn’t take the babies or you would have had 4 new pets at home
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April 19, 2010 at 11:51 am
I am SO HAPPY you brought both home. Can’t wait to meet them in person!
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April 19, 2010 at 12:01 pm
🙂 ((sigh))
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April 19, 2010 at 12:39 pm
How wonderful for you, Don, Fergus and Nigel! Just curious, is there DNA testing available to find out if they are related?
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April 19, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Jambo Di,
Thank you. Good question! I’ll definitely ask the vet the next time we see him.
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April 19, 2010 at 3:52 pm
To Cee Cee
just a guess but, but is Ellsworth just older, and the others are sitll young ?
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April 19, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Mel,
You’re right… I think that’s a lot of it too. Ellsworth is older (he’s five, Nigel is three, and Bernard and Fergus are two this year). Ellsworth’s hair is also quite different from the other three. It’s very wiry and wavy compared to the others. I would absolutely love to see your donks!
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April 19, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I love this story. The thought that Nigel and Fergus could be blood brothers is way cool – can’t wait to hear what Kevin says about the DNA test.
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April 19, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Their story brought a tear to my eyes….you are a strong woman to only bring home two. They are lucky boys, so gentle looking, I’m glad I live sooo far away!!!
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April 19, 2010 at 9:00 pm
How I long (not so secretly,) for a burro! I wish there were more people that would consider adopting them and fall in love the wonderful souls that they are. I am thinking that your blog and Carson’s, well…. Burros might just stand a chance after all.
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April 19, 2010 at 10:06 pm
I absolutely cannot start a day without checking in at yours and 7MSN’s blogs! I am soooo in love with those huge brown eyes and furry muzzles! What strength it took not to take all those babies home? I myself would have stuffed every single one of them into my trailer and brought them home; I don’t think my neighbors would like it much tho’ 🙂
Glad to see they’re acting like a “herd” ! Much hugs and kisses to the muzzles!!!
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April 20, 2010 at 4:44 am
What a touching story. *sigh* How neat that they actually picked you out and that you were kind enough to take them both.
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April 20, 2010 at 5:58 am
I love stories with happy endings! It’s so great that you were able to take both of them with you. What do Bernard and Ellsworth think of the new arrivals? I can’t wait to chronicle their progress in your family.
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April 20, 2010 at 6:39 am
How sweet they are. Keeping them together was the nicest thing you could have done that day. It says a great deal about you and Don and your love for animals in general Hearts of gold…. hearts of gold.
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
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April 20, 2010 at 9:18 am
What a great story. I don’t know how you were able to walk away with just two! I would have been torn about the jenny who wanted Don to scratch her ears! It’s so neat that you found out the boys came from the same herd and might even be brothers.
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April 20, 2010 at 7:16 pm
That was exhausting. Hope peace is now “reining.”
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