Disney and Polly, nine-month-old miniature donkeys, escaped their pasture during the night on Wednesday, leaving their handlers duped and confused as they tracked them down Thursday morning. 

The two donkeys are new to the 20-acre Epsom farm and Disney – the troublemaker of the pair – has been causing mischief and mayhem since her arrival. 

“I don’t want to speculate, but I think it was Disney, she’s the one who plots,” said Helen St. Pierre, who is also the owner of No Monkey Business Dog Training in Concord. “She is the most mischievous [farm animal] we have; she likes to tip over the Adirondack chair in their pen and flip over the wheelbarrow when I’m picking up manure. Then she stomps on it.”

Early Thursday morning, St. Pierre brought grain to their pasture, like she always does, and found the gate popped open. Then pen was vacant with no sign of Disney or Polly. She thought they might have been stolen at first, since miniature baby donkeys are hard to come by, but she knew they escaped when she saw their halters still hanging on their posts. 

“No one would be able to lift them into their car, they’re 250 pounds each,” St. Pierre said. “My husband is a survival coach and expert so he knows how to track. He followed their hoof prints in the dirt, saw some donkey pee and found them half a mile away, happy as little clams, in a neighboring pasture.”

But catching the donkeys was no small feat. Without a halter and totally free for the first time in their young lives, Disney and Polly ran from their handlers until St. Pierre brought them a bucket of grain. She safely secured them and returned them to their pasture.  

“This was the first time they’d broken out of their pen and they will not do it again,” St. Pierre said. “We made it like Jurassic Park with two double gate locks that they can’t push up and over through.”

As first-time owners, the young, female miniature donkeys arrived on the farm two weeks ago from a breeder in upstate New York. St. Pierre’s two daughters, aged 5 and 12, named the girls and were struck with nerves Thursday morning when they went missing. When they were returned safe, St. Pierre called their schools to tell them of the homecoming after their midnight adventure. 

“I feel like we’ve definitely had our christening being farmers,” St. Pierre said. 

Though the donkeys aren’t sisters, they’re very bonded, St. Pierre explained, and she hopes to use them as part of an animal therapy program in the future – as long as they don’t run away again. They make wonderful companions and have a lifespan of 40 years. 

The St. Pierre family recently moved to Epsom from Bow to purchase more space for their hospice dog sanctuary called Old Dogs Go to Helen. With the added space, the family could build on their homestead, which includes goats, pigs, chickens, ducks and now donkeys.

“We always wanted them and now we finally have the space,” St. Pierre said of the pair. 

To those thinking of adopting their own miniature donkeys, make sure to double secure your gates, she added. 

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