Donkey trapped on Merced County island relocated, doing well at sanctuary

The donkey with a gait who was trapped on a Lake McClure island has been rescued and relocated to a shelter, state officials said.

An Aug. 23 attempt by 15 employees of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to rescue Hillary, as the wild burro is affectionately called by local fishermen and visitors, was successful, according to a news release.

The team, which included trappers and a veterinarian, first attempted to capture Hillary by baiting her into a corral that had been previously constructed, the release states.

That didn’t work. So the team then tried to herd her into the corral.

“We spent a few hours trying to do that, but she turned out to be very wily (and surprisingly agile on the bad leg.),” the release states.

The next option was to dart her with a tranquilizer. It took two shots to get Hillary to come down, according to the release.

The team then brought her to the mainland by boat and loaded her onto a trailer. She received tranquilizer reversal medication before representatives of Texas-based Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue brought her to their wild burro sanctuary in Plymouth.

Harry Markarian, a former Merced police officer and Lake McClure fisherman who sounded the alarm about the island Hillary was trapped on, was happy with the rescue operation.

“There’s some risk involved when you tranquilize an animal like that,” Markarian said. “But the (Department of) Fish and Wildlife did a good job. ... Everything went super.”

It’s believed Hillary, who has either a functional leg defect or injury, was part of a herd or got separated from a herd of wild burros when she didn’t make it off high ground in Lake McClure before water levels started rising two years ago. She was stranded on an island.

Over the years, as precipitation pelted the state, water levels continued to rise, leaving Hillary with less and less room.

Fisherman and visitors would help Hillary by bringing over food, but the shrinking island and food supply had regulars like Markarian worried.

A group of locals this year started planning how they could relocate Hillary. But state and federal wildlife officials objected amid confusion about whether the law would allow Hillary’s relocation.

“We had some members of the public who talked with us that it’s been on there, they wanted to have it moved and had some plans,” said Bob Stafford, a biologist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We have a more professional team that handles wildlife handling anyway, so it was thought we would be best to handle and capture the donkey and move it to the shore.”

When Hillary was finally released at the sanctuary, she immediately trotted to a fence to meet other burros, Markarian said.

“She’s definitely social, and they said she’s doing fine,” Markarian said. “We’re going to miss her, but it’s going to be good.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 5:36 PM.