Wire Weird News
Sunday, May 15, 2011
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/14/3627048/operation-donkey-brings-iraqi.html
Department of Defense / AP Photo
In this Sept. 11, 2008 photo provided by the Department of Defense and Retired Marine Col. John Folsom, Smoke the Donkey takes part in a Freedom Walk event at
Operation Donkey brings Iraqi equine to US
By JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press
Published
Last Modified
WASHINGTON -- It took 37 days and a group of determined animal lovers, but a donkey from
Smoke The Donkey, who became a friend and mascot to a group of U.S. Marines living in
The chest-high donkey's story begins in the summer of 2008, when he wandered in to
The smoke-colored donkey, which once snatched and ate a cigarette from a careless Marine, soon became such a part of the unit that he received his own care packages and cards. Marines took care of him until 2009 when they left the area, but they turned Smoke over to a sheik who promised to care for him.
But one of the Marines, retired
Folsom used to walk Smoke daily and had formed a bond with the animal. It didn't seem right that Smoke was left behind, he said in a telephone interview Saturday.
Folsom, the founder of a support group for military families, Wounded Warriors Family Support, decided to see if Smoke could be brought to the United States to serve as a therapy animal.
Getting Smoke back proved more difficult than Folsom realized. At first, the sheik demanded $30,000 for the famous donkey, a demand that was later dropped. Then, there was the bureaucracy of getting Smoke nearly 7,000 miles around the world
To cut through the red tape, Folsom got help from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International, which has a project that transports dogs and cats from
The group, however, had never attempted airlifting a donkey, which is more complicated because equines can't be transported on traditional commercial aircraft and must go by cargo plane.
The donkey's journey has provided laughter - and head scratching - along the way.
"People just couldn't believe we were going to these great lengths to help a donkey because donkeys in that part of the world are so low down on the totem pole," said the society's Terri Crisp, who negotiated the donkey's passage from Iraq to the United States. "Donkeys are not viewed as a companion animal. They're viewed as a work animal."
As frustrating as the journey sometimes was for those involved, including a week-long delay getting Smoke in to
"I think people did finally come to realize that this is one of these out-of the-ordinary situations. Once you met him and saw what a unique donkey he was, it was hard to say no to him," Crisp said, describing Smoke as "gentle" and "mischievous" as well as a food-lover - carrots and apples in particular.
The journey, which started April 5, wasn't cheap.
The society estimates it cost between $30,000 to $40,000 from start to finish, with expenses such as $150 to ship Smoke's blood from
"Why do we spend billions of dollars of pet food in this country? Why do we do that?" Folsom said. "We love our animals. That's why."
Folsom saw the donkey for the first time in years Saturday when he arrived in New York to transport him to his new home in
"He's an American donkey now," Folsom said.
Read more
Copyright © The
Donations can be sent to the
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
No comments:
Post a Comment