One Massachusetts woman has an unusual tale to tell after her miniature donkey, who was missing for five months, was captured in a goat pen.
Scott Bergantino captured the female donkey last week after luring it into the pen with hay at a nearby farm. Bergantino said he had been seeing the donkey around his farm for a week and a half. He had attempted to catch the donkey before, but it would always run away.
“My wife and I have tried to catch her a few times since then. We realized we had to trap her,” Bergantino told The Valley Breeze Thursday.
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Bergantino said he decided to move the goats he owned into a different pen on the day of capture. He then laid hay down as bait and left the pen gate open. The donkey eventually wandered into the pen and remained there when Bergantino returned that evening. She tried to run again when he arrived but then “blasted back into the pen,” so he was able to capture her.
Bergantino said he had been in touch with Karen Lanoue, who had reported the donkey as missing, in the days leading to the animal’s capture. He said the transfer was difficult, and they enlisted the help of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to get the donkey home.
“I’m just thankful she didn’t get hit by a car, that she’s all right, and no one got hurt,” Lanoue told the outlet. “I’m just glad he caught her. Winter is coming. You know, thank God they got her.”
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Lanoue said the donkey’s hooves are in rough shape, but she is otherwise healthy. With the weather changing, Lanoue said she was beating herself up over the loss of the donkey, a gift from her niece, and worried about her freezing to death or running out of food.
The donkey has not been named yet, but Lanoue said she is considering calling her “Traveling Jane” or “Runaround Sue.”
