A sad event on the sanctuary. Our beloved donkey Ferdinand passed on October 18, 2020.
Though we have been fortunate so far this year not to have wildfires near us, we had terrible smoke from the many fires burning in other places and Ferdinand began to be short of breath in September when the air was the worst. Day after day of smoky air worsened his breathing. He developed a bad cough. The vet thought this was due to a bronchial infection secondary to the smoke inhalation. Antibiotics resolved the cough, but his breathing continued to be labored. Antihistamines didn’t help and neither did homeopathy.
The full-size donkeys, whom Ferdinand adored, let me know by braying when Ferdinand had particular trouble breathing one day after I had let him roam the property with the herd and flock after his cough had resolved. The exertion was too much for him and I led him back to the area around the house so he could be calm and breathe easier. Various sanctuary members spent days with him (his partner Lily Rose, daughter Jasmine Pearl, the dogs, Caerwyn the goat, and miniature horse Perseus) and he did stay calm.
Tragically, Ferdinand became another casualty of the wildfires. He could not recover. On the night he died, I was in the house when the big donkeys brayed long and loud in a way I had heard before—when Pegasus died. It sounded like singing. I rushed out to the fenced Ring of Protection where the animals spend the night safe from predators. Ferdinand had passed. His body was still warm, so I knew he had died at the moment the donkeys brayed. They sang our beloved Ferdinand into the next world.
