Donkey missing for 5 years is seen leading herd of deer in the USA; see video

When Diesel the donkey ran away during a walk near his home outside Sacramento, California, five years ago, his owners assumed the worst.

“He’s not aggressive, he’s adorable,” Terrie Drewry told CNN KOVR in 2019, days after Diesel’s escape. “But now, he’s scared.”

Years passed without a sign of life from Diesel — until early 2024, when a hunter spotted and filmed a herd of at least a dozen elk in Northern California. Among them, strangely enough, was a wild donkey.

See video:

Drewry was certain that the donkey in the video is his Diesel.

“We finally saw it,” Drewry told KOVR after seeing the video on Instagram. “Finally, we know he is ok. He is living his best life. Is he happy. He’s healthy, and it was just a relief.”

The Drewry family adopted Diesel from the Bureau of Land Management, and he lived on their ranch peacefully for the first few years of his life alongside chickens, a llama, and a donkey.

But on a fateful walk in April 2019, Diesel noticed something that scared him and took off running, dragging Drewry’s husband, Dave, through the bushes behind him, she told KOVR at the time.

For weeks, they searched for Diesel in the Cache Creek Wilderness, an area northwest of Sacramento comprising more than 12,000 acres.

Enter Max Fennell, a professional triathlete who occasionally hunts in California with a bow and arrow. On a hunting trip in March, Fennell came across the herd of elk — and was surprised to see a donkey among them.

In Fennell’s video, which Drewry said was filmed just a few miles from where Diesel fled in 2019, the herd is seen moving. When Fennell sees them, they stop to look at him.

The animals do not move again until the donkey apparently gives the signal: After seeing Fennell, the donkey turns its head and trots away. The moose quickly follow.

“Probably one of my craziest hunting trips to date,” Fennell captioned the video on Instagram. “I can’t unsee it and I’m amazed that the donkey looks happy and healthy!”

In addition to clearing land, pulling wagons, and providing general cuteness, donkeys can protect livestock on farms. Pack animals fiercely defend their herds.

Drewry suspects that if the donkey Fennell saw is really Diesel, he’s just doing his donkey duty and protecting his deer friends.

“They learned to get along and be each other’s family,” she told KOVR.

A video shared in September last year also showed Diesel with his moose family. The donkey looked completely content, trotting through the tall yellow grass in the dappled sunlight.

Although she misses him, Drewry said she won’t try to catch Diesel and bring him back. As herding animals, donkeys in the wild can usually find plenty to eat. And the donkey in Fennell’s video appears to be thriving in the desert, with friends by his side.

“He’s really a wild ass now,” she said.