Monty
02-13-2007, 02:37 PM
Farmer Exasperated With Wayward Donkey
PITTSFIELD, Maine - An exasperated farmer has tried for weeks to corral his runaway donkey. He tried coaxing her. He tried tranquilizing her. He even tried using a horse whisperer. But Jenny the donkey has proven to be elusive, evading capture and enduring bitter cold during the past three weeks on the lam.
"This one here seems to outsmart everyone," Joe Varricchio, who runs the farm with his girlfriend, said Monday. "I guess she likes her freedom."
Varricchio and Mary Gaeta decided to buy Jenny two months ago because they'd heard that having a donkey around the farm would ward off predators like fox, coyotes and raccoons that have been snatching 50 to 60 hens a year.
But this donkey had a mind of her own, fleeing the corral on Jan. 18, a couple of weeks after arriving at the farm, called "Mary's Gardens."
Varricchio said his son shot Jenny with a tranquilizer dart, but she ran away into the woods. Apparently it had no effect, because she was up and about when they located her two hours later, he said.
They tried putting tranquilizers in her food. That didn't work, either.
The latest effort, on Sunday, involved a horse whisperer.
"Some people call me a horse whisperer; some people call me an equine psychologist," Karina Lewis, of Benton, told the Morning Sentinel newspaper. "I like to call myself a problem-solver of people and horses."
But she couldn't figure out Jenny, who she thinks is part donkey, part horse. Lewis and her partner rode horses in an attempt to corral Jenny. The donkey came close, but kept running away.
Lewis said Jenny might be wandering on 30 acres of woods behind the farm because she's searching for her mate, from whom she was separated at an auction. Her donkey buddy is now believed to be residing somewhere in New Hampshire.
Jenny doesn't wander too far, though. She returns to a spot behind the barn to eat each morning. She might even catch a quick nap. But she's up and running whenever someone approaches.
It's not easy catching a critter that doesn't want to be caught, Lewis said. "It's kind of like chasing a 700-pound rabbit," she said.
Another volunteer who's trying to help is Kevin Hall of TK Ranch in Newport, which specializes in miniature horses and donkeys.
Hall brought along a male donkey, Jackson, in hopes that Jenny would amble into the corral for some company. It didn't happen.
"I've never had such a hard time getting a donkey a date in my life," he said.
Information from: Morning Sentinel, http://www.onlinesentinel.com/
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
PITTSFIELD, Maine - An exasperated farmer has tried for weeks to corral his runaway donkey. He tried coaxing her. He tried tranquilizing her. He even tried using a horse whisperer. But Jenny the donkey has proven to be elusive, evading capture and enduring bitter cold during the past three weeks on the lam.
"This one here seems to outsmart everyone," Joe Varricchio, who runs the farm with his girlfriend, said Monday. "I guess she likes her freedom."
Varricchio and Mary Gaeta decided to buy Jenny two months ago because they'd heard that having a donkey around the farm would ward off predators like fox, coyotes and raccoons that have been snatching 50 to 60 hens a year.
But this donkey had a mind of her own, fleeing the corral on Jan. 18, a couple of weeks after arriving at the farm, called "Mary's Gardens."
Varricchio said his son shot Jenny with a tranquilizer dart, but she ran away into the woods. Apparently it had no effect, because she was up and about when they located her two hours later, he said.
They tried putting tranquilizers in her food. That didn't work, either.
The latest effort, on Sunday, involved a horse whisperer.
"Some people call me a horse whisperer; some people call me an equine psychologist," Karina Lewis, of Benton, told the Morning Sentinel newspaper. "I like to call myself a problem-solver of people and horses."
But she couldn't figure out Jenny, who she thinks is part donkey, part horse. Lewis and her partner rode horses in an attempt to corral Jenny. The donkey came close, but kept running away.
Lewis said Jenny might be wandering on 30 acres of woods behind the farm because she's searching for her mate, from whom she was separated at an auction. Her donkey buddy is now believed to be residing somewhere in New Hampshire.
Jenny doesn't wander too far, though. She returns to a spot behind the barn to eat each morning. She might even catch a quick nap. But she's up and running whenever someone approaches.
It's not easy catching a critter that doesn't want to be caught, Lewis said. "It's kind of like chasing a 700-pound rabbit," she said.
Another volunteer who's trying to help is Kevin Hall of TK Ranch in Newport, which specializes in miniature horses and donkeys.
Hall brought along a male donkey, Jackson, in hopes that Jenny would amble into the corral for some company. It didn't happen.
"I've never had such a hard time getting a donkey a date in my life," he said.
Information from: Morning Sentinel, http://www.onlinesentinel.com/
A service of the Associated Press(AP)