Eunice's Story - Written with Eunice's Help
Note from Bonnie Buongiorne, Founder - This has been a very hard story for me to write because every time I have tried, I think of the other donkeys that were left behind. Eunice came from a farm where the caretaker had no bad intentions and needed help identifying some of the problems. That being said, we will not divulge the location of this farm, or any other where honest efforts are being made to help the animals.
Hi!
My name is Eunice, and I just turned one year old on July 14th. I live at Ray of Light Farm - a donkey and horse sanctuary and rescue – in East Haddam, CT. I really don’t fit into either category of Rescue or Sanctuary…or at least, I don’t think I do. But, I’ll let you decide.
Where I was born was a big, beautiful farm. It has grassy fields, a big pond, and a small barn with a few stalls and a lot of stuff in it. Just like you might expect on an old farm. There were woods all around it.
There were around 100 of us donkeys of all types from tiny, like me, to huge like the one they call Bullwinkle at Ray of Light Farm. Some had straight hair, some curly, and all different colors just like people. We didn’t care about that.
There was one lady – and sometimes her husband or a friend – that tried their best to take care of all of us. The lady was kind, and she liked to make donkey babies and sell them. That’s what the small barn was for – shelter after the babies were born. But they didn’t live at the farm and they couldn’t always keep track of when things were going wrong. They didn’t know how many of us were struggling with parasites. And they didn’t know about the hungry bear that lived in the woods until it was too late for some of us.
Three of us came to East Haddam because a new lady was looking for a companion for her old donkey whose friend of over 40 years had just died. She was really only looking for one new donkey, but three of us got lucky. She brought Bonnie with her to help her find the right friend. They made several trips to visit, and picked us up one at a time as we got old enough.
I was only six weeks old when they came to visit the first time. I didn’t know that I sealed my own fate that day. Bonnie sat down on the cement outside of the “baby barn.” I left my mother to go stand by her and get my neck scratched. When she got up, I followed her around outside. You see, I’m a very friendly donkey.
No one knew the other lady was going to bring home whichever donkey stayed with Bonnie. No one knew that she wanted to help fill the hole that Basil left when he died. I’m glad it was me. I love people, I love being a therapy donkey, and I love being nice. That’s how I got my name! EU-NICE! Get it?
To make a long story short, I quarantined with the two other donkeys from my birth farm, just like you have to do for COVID-19. It’s not that hard and I’m glad I did it because I might have gotten others sick. As it turned out, we all had the lungworm parasite and my lungs were pretty bad. To make things worse, I was full of strongyles and roundworms too. When I was no longer contagious, I moved from the quarantine barn to Ray of Light Farm to continue my treatments. They take very good care of me. I had x-rays and ultrasounds on my lungs, and my nose was runny and I coughed a lot. I’m better now, but I still cough and have trouble breathing when I play too hard. I might always be that way, but for now it’s ok.
There is a retired couple that helps to support me while I do my very important work with them. My job is to help people feel better. I’m getting better at it – and it’s important because a lot of people are having trouble with everything that’s going on in the world. A lot of my animal friends here at the farm share this important job, and they need support too.
So if you’re feeling blue, come and see me. I’d love to meet you!
Yours truly,
Eunice
