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Bond Between Donkey, Emu May Make Adoption Difficult

This mule and emu enjoy each other's company at a shelter near Charlotte. Image courtesy Carolina Waterfowl Rescue

Available to a good home: one male donkey, slightly neurotic. New owner must also be willing to accommodate one female emu. 

It turns out the unlikely pair can barely stand to be separated from each other. The Charlotte Observer reports the two were rescued from Kershaw, South Carolina, after their owner suddenly vanished last week. 

Jennifer Gordon is with Carolina Waterfowl Rescue. She says the shelter tried separating the orphans, but the donkey started crying and the emu became "frantic." The pair cuddle and sleep together, and the donkey has shown little interest in hanging out with his four-legged brethren. 

Gordon says someone will need to adopt both animals, and "that may not be easy," so the shelter plans on housing the couple together indefinitely. 

Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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