Pet donkey that vanished five years ago is spotted living with a herd of elk

Five years since going missing, a pet donkey has been spotted with a herd of wild elk in California.

Diesel the donkey ran away during a hike in 2019 when something scared him. He took off running, his owner Terrie Drewry told KOVR, a CNN affiliate.

Both Drewry and her husband Dave searched for Diesel in the Cache Creek Wilderness, a rural area that spans 30,000 acres. They never found him, even though there were times they came close, like when they found some hoof marks and saw a donkey on a trail camera.

She said her family adopted Diesel from the Bureau of Land Management. He lived on their ranch for a few years before going missing.

It wasn’t until Max Fennell, a professional triathlete, went hunting in March and found a herd of elk along with a friend that seemed misplaced.

Fennell took a video of the encounter and posted it to Instagram.

“I just spotted these elk and there’s a donkey with them,” Fennell can be heard saying in the clip. In the footage, the group stop, turn to look at the man, turn away and begin trotting through the hills together.

“Probably one of my wildest hunting trips to date,” he wrote in the caption of the video. “I can’t get over seeing it and I’m amazed that the donkey looks happy and healthy!”

Drewry, too, was in disbelief after seeing the video.

“He’s truly a wild burro now,” she said, adding that she’s not interested in catching the donkey and bringing him back home. Donkeys are capable of living alone in the wild and grazing for food.

“Finally we saw him,” she told the outlet. “Finally, we know he’s good. He’s living his best life. He’s happy. He’s healthy and it was just a relief.”

On the elk friends, she commented: “They learned to get along and be each other’s family.”