JENNY

Donkeys have lived and roamed wild in the western United States for hundreds of years. Some of these donkeys found their own niche in one of the harshest environments on earth—Death Valley. Jenny was one of those descendants.

Jenny came to Redwings after being removed from Death Valley by Wild Burro Rescue in order to keep her from being shot by the park service. Donkey shooting is a policy the park service carries out in order to rid the area of non-indigenous wildlife they claim are responsible for overgrazing, even though the livestock (cattle and sheep) on these lands are allowed to freely increase in number each year.

When Jenny arrived at Redwings, we discovered she was pregnant. A few weeks later, Sage was born. From the very first, Sage has been a joyful addition to the Redwings family. Although Jenny initially tried to keep Sage away from humans, Sage would ignore her mother and walk right up to the paddock fence for petting by staff and visitors. Sage especially loves children and will push the other donkeys out of the way to make sure she gets plenty of attention!

Now that Sage is older, she and Jenny live with all of the other donkeys in one of Redwings’ pastures. All day long, she plays with her best friend, Coyote, who was also born at Redwings after her mother was rounded up in Death Valley. Jenny has changed a great deal since her early days at the Sanctuary. Though she is a wild donkey, the kindness she witnessed towards Sage caused her to warm to people. She now allows people to pet her and is very friendly. Just think how much love would have been missing from the world had Jenny been destroyed!

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