7 minute read
Donkey rescue
Oscar’s Place
Ron King with Red.
Advertisement
Submitted photo
Wine country donkey rescue, rehab sanctuary, helps save Napa winery equine
RACHEL RASKINZRIHEN
Ron King, former Time, Inc., Senior VP, says he’s traded life in the fast lane for the world of donkey rescue, and it’s a lucky thing for Buttercup, the donkey at Napa’s ADAMVS winery, who might have died otherwise.
King, 52, who has worked on Style, Essence, Sunset and Southern magazines, said at about the time he retired from media, several unexpected stars aligned and he found himself with the desire and the wherewithal to rescue donkeys which would otherwise be slaughtered for their hides.
“Two things happened serendipitously,” he said. “I was helping sell a piece of property in Hopland – 45 miles north of Santa Rosa – for the owner. When I moved here, I found it a beautiful place, and at about the same time, I read an article about the rate at which donkeys were being slaughtered for this popular Chinese (medicine – ejiao).”
Websites on the issue say in the past decade or so, the growing popularity of ejiao, which supposedly treats anemia, reproductive issues and insomnia, has led to the destruction of millions of donkeys. Though its curative properties are unproven, according to NPR.com, it is nevertheless an ingredient in tonics and face creams to the tune of millions of dollars and about four million dead donkeys annually.
Then, King said he saw a story on Tik Tok about a woman who was rescuing donkeys.
“She was going to auctions and outbidding the others, but had no place to take (the donkeys),” he said. “Both these things happened in the same
week. So, I looked out my window, and here I had this place with 75 acres, with a barn. I was retired from media, and now I rescue donkeys.”
Oscar’s Place Adoption Center & Sanctuary, is named for a favorite cat of the property owner/client – Los Angeles philanthropist Phil Selway, who, King said, wants his legacy to be one of animal welfare.
“In December, 2020, we contacted that lady and got our first five donkeys, to make sure it was a good match and we fell in love with them,” he said. “Then, the next 25 came in early January. They come from a kill pen in Bowie, Texas, where they are being auctioned off by the pound for slaughter.”
Oscar’s Place was awarded Verified status as of Aug. 1 by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), the only globally recognized organization providing standards for identifying legitimate animal sanctuaries.
“I am committed to doing everything in my power to help these donkeys,” King said. “I was advised early on that
Please see Oscar, Page 42
Pia, the baby donkey
Submitted photo Oscar’s Place
Oscar’s Place/The Selway Family Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit oscarsplace.org
Ron King with Viejo
Submitted photo
Ron King with Calico.
Submitted photo
OSCAR
From Page 41
accreditation from GFAS would provide us the resources and validation needed to accelerate our work.”
Though donkeys make great family pets for someone with enough room, most of the doomed equines are owner surrenders, or wild captures, King said.
“There are options before auction, but many people don’t know that,” he said. “They call themselves a livestock auction, but on their site they do say they’re a kill center.”
This discovery didn’t sit well with King.
“It was sad,” he said. “I was born on a farm in Arkansas, but donkeys never entered my brain. It made me research donkeys and I realized how incredible they are. So smart, friendly and emotional. And there are people saving dogs and cats and horses but not many saving donkeys, so I became an advocate for them.”
Enter Napa’s ADAMVS winery.
“This Napa winery’s donkey is sick and the vet said she’s dying of loneliness,” King said. “They came here to adopt a companion. It shows (the animals’) level of intelligence and emotions.”
Kit Gilbert is general manager of ADAMVS which, she said, is Latin for “born from our red earth.”
“We have that red earth here in Napa, it’s lava derived. It’s absolutely spectacular for growing cabernet sauvignon,” she said.
The winery’s chickens had been falling prey to predators, and officials were advised to invest in a guard animal.
“Our vet suggested we rescue a donkey, because we were losing chickens,” she said. “We now have a donkey named Buttercup, who we got as a guard for our chickens, and haven’t lost one in three years.”
But, all was not well with Buttercup, Gilbert said.
“We notice over the last 12 months or so, since the fires, and having her evacuated, and all the stressful events, she was having medical issues,” she said. “We spoil her. She gets the best, organic food; she gets lots of attention; a great place to live, but she was having these issues. We were told that pack animals can have these issues from loneliness. So we were told another donkey or even a pony would work, but we love Buttercup so much we wanted to get her a donkey companion.”
ADAMVS’ Cristina Chavez discovered Oscar’s Place, and did “a whole lot of research” and decided to contact them, and King and Oscar’s officials matched Buttercup with McGee, a “fixed” male rescue about Buttercup’s age, that seemed like the perfect fit, Gilbert said.
“They were incredible, they found us McGee,” she said. “He’s handsome, sweet, the right age, mild mannered, and he likes people but also likes his space, which is a good balance for us. We want this to be a happy home for them. Donkeys are kinda like penguins in that they have one partner for life. They’re inseparable. So we’re hoping to find that love-match for Buttercup.”
Though the adoption process is “serious,” Gilbert said were expecting McGee over the summer. She describes the fourman team at Oscar’s Place as “extraordinarily professional and passionate about what they do. Cristina said she observed that when babies are born at the ranch, there’s a human there to help, and they get acclimated to humans. It’s a beautiful place and everyone there is 100 percent engaged in what they’re doing, and they’re doing it for the right reasons.”
The donkeys come to Oscar’s through Tahlia Fischer and her Bakersfield-based nonprofit, All Seated in a Barn, horse and donkey rescue, who raises funds to outbid others at the kill center auctions to buy the donkeys. So far, she’s given Oscar’s 55 of them.
“We take them in, do emotional and physical rehab and once they’re ready, we adopt them out. We have a waiting list of seven,” he said.
Each new arrival is quickly named for record keeping’s sake, so they have donkeys named Pickles, Snickers, Alfredo – “from a social media thing – what’s the last thing you ate,” King said. “Like, we have a skinny white one we called Justin Bieber.”
Although the whole point is to adopt these animals out to good homes, King said saying goodbye is difficult. He’s adopted a half dozen himself.
“We are committed to their rehabilitation,” he said. The physical is easy, but the emotional requires a lot of interaction and we get very close and I get emotional every time one leaves. I have adopted six. Goose, Pickles and Shadow, Viejo, Felix, and Whiz kid. We kept the first three, who are under a year old. Viejo is an old man, and he visits with people. The last two were so sick when they arrived and have permanent physical issues.”
King said donkey rescue is his future.
“I’m the steward for now, and we have a succession plan and it will live beyond me,” he said. “I spent the first 50 years working to help humans, including me. And now I’m helping donkeys. They say thank you every day. They’re just so loving. They’re treated so badly in the auction houses, it takes a couple weeks but they eventually realize they’re safe and we’re here to help them. I think they can tell.”
Submitted photo
