BROADCASTS.com

December 27, 2021 \u2014 Oscar\u2019s Place, a donkey sanctuary in Hopland named for a cat, is populated by guinea hens, medieval artillery, and dozens of soon-to-be reality TV stars.\nRon King is a former New York fashion and media executive who lost his job in the pandemic and decided to devote himself to rescuing donkeys. The 75-acre ranch is named for the memory of a much-beloved pet.\nDonkeys are charismatic, with their quizzical expressions, big hairy ears, and dainty hooves. They are equines, but their brains, their guts, and their hooves are entirely different from those of a horse, which means they require a different kind of care. They are also profoundly emotional. \u201cThey form very strong bonds with each other, and with their human caretakers,\u201d King said during a tour of the premises on Friday morning.\nOscar\u2019s Place has had just over eighty donkeys come through. Twenty-nine have been adopted, and six are permanent residents. Not many are available for adoption at the moment, since King wants to make sure they are successfully rehabilitated, both physically and emotionally; that potential adopters have the resources and the fencing to take care of them properly; and that they will be treated as pets, rather than beasts of burden. He also won\u2019t adopt out pregnant females. Most importantly, he will only home them in pairs, even if they are destined to be companions for other animals. \u201cI have promised these donkeys a safe, happy, and healthy life, and I believe that retirement is probably part of that,\u201d he said. \u201cI think donkeys probably do enjoy having a job, but it has to be pretty light. The primary reason people adopt donkeys is to be a pet, and secondarily, they\u2019re great guardians.\u201d \nWhile the donkeys he introduced to a visitor were affectionate and docile, nuzzling for treats and leaning into shoulder rubs, King says \u201cdonkeys are fierce.\u201d Their bonding tendency means they will protect their friends and family, starting with a unique bray that is often enough to send coyotes in search of a meal somewhere else. Next, they charge. \u201cUsually, a thousand-pound animal charging will deter it,\u201d King explained. \u201cIf the coyote still continues, donkeys\u2019 back hips are double jointed. They can kick sideways and backwards. And so if you ever google Donkey vs. Coyote, which I do not recommend, the donkey always wins.\u201d\nFor all that is endearing, unique, and fierce about them, the species is a bit of a modern-day castoff. \u201cMost ancient cities around the globe were built on the backs of donkeys,\u201d King reasoned. \u201cAnd then we got tractors. Now, in this century, horses win races. Cattle feed a food system. Goats produce milk and meat. So they all serve a monetary value to humans. Donkeys have no monetary value. They\u2019ve just been used, and then discarded. So the donkey has very few advocates.\u201d\nViejo, King\u2019s personal pet donkey, is one of the permanent residents. He and his friend Sandy got a vigorous rub as King talked about what he knows and doesn\u2019t know about the animals who show up on the ranch with a variety of conditions. Donkeys end up at auction houses, where their buyers almost inevitably slaughter them, for a variety of reasons. Either their owners or the owners\u2019 heirs surrender them, or people illegally round up wild donkeys and sell them for quick cash. King suspects Viejo was surrendered, because \u201che came off the truck friendly. I think he is just about perfect.\u201d Sandy, who is heavily pregnant, is food-motivated, so, according to King, \u201cshe acts like she\u2019s being sweet. She\u2019s just trying to manipulate you into giving her some food. If you don\u2019t, she will leave you.\u201d\nKing hasn\u2019t entirely lost his fashion sense. He is fully aware that he and Viejo, both silver-haired partial brunettes, go well together. \u201cPhotographers seem to like us because we have the same color hair,\u201d he divulged, planting a kiss on Viejo\u2019s forehead.\nHis media senses are still keen, too. Starting in 2022, he promised, \u201cthe donkeys are going to be reality TV stars. Several different production companies approached us, and it was very important to me that we understood what our northern star was and what kind of story we\u2019re going to tell. It\u2019s really going to be stories of compassion and joy and some of the heartache that comes from running a donkey sanctuary.\u201d \nHe already knows who the biggest stars are going to be. They\u2019re just outside a high-ceilinged barn, echoing with the cries of guinea fowl. The guineas are supposed to protect everyone from rattlesnakes, and sure enough, at 10:00 in the morning on Christmas Eve, there wasn\u2019t a rattlesnake in sight. They\u2019re not the stars, though.\n\u201cDonkeys are pregnant for 14 months, so we already know how many babies we\u2019re going to have next year, and that number is 23,\u201d he announced, leading the way into the maternity pasture. \u201cDonkey babies are adorable, and make for really good TV.\u201d\nThey also come in a variety of sizes. Hershey, who is the size of a really big dog, is probably half mini. Which br...