Depressed donkey now a happy hee-hawer thanks to new friendship with horse

The brutal Saskatchewan windchill didn't seem to bother thedonkey and the horse as they picked away at a bale of hay on a small farmnorthwest of Regina.

You'd never know thepairhad only lived together for a couple weeks, or that they saved each other's lives.

Depressed donkey now a happy hee-hawer thanks to new friendship with horse

6 years ago

Duration 0:38

Pam Johnson and DeLee Grant were both struggling to save their animals one from depression, one from being euthanized when a mutual friend connected them. Now the two women and their animals have bonded.

Pam Johnson's niece had packed up her horses and moved them to Ontario on Oct. 11. Festus, the 13-year-old standard donkey, was left all alone.He was devastated, Johnson said. Think of Eeyore, but in real life.

"He was very lonely. He was mournful braying 3, 4, 5 a.m., midnight," she said.

Johnson tried to find replacements forFestus's equine friends, but had no luck.

Meanwhile, DeLee Grantwas in White City praying she'd be able to find a home for her24-year-old horse, Peggy. Grant and her husbandLarrywere downsizing from a farm to a home in town. They had two horses. One had to be euthanized because he was old, arthritic and in poor health, but Peggy was still very healthy.

Grant wasn't willing to sell Peggy for fear ofherending up on a slaughter line.

That's when Grant and Johnson sayfate intervened.

Part of the downsizing for Grant included a big move. Grant ended up breaking a vertebrain her back during the process and had to have surgery. After about a weekshe was feeling good enough to tagalong with her husband into Regina one afternoon. They stoppedat the Dollar Store and bumped into a woman named Yvonne Schalk.

The whole move has been very stressful and this is the happiest moment of my entire life to find a home for Peggy.- DeLee Grant

"I told her that I was feeling pretty bad because I was going to have to put my horse down," Grant said.

Schalktold Grant about Johnson and Festus. Grant and Johnson emailed back and forth a few times. After a visit out to Johnson's farm, Grant decidedPeggy would come to live with Festus.

Peggy's new home looks like something on a Christmas card. There's a big red barn, lots of trees covered in snow and dogs that greet you at the gate.

Peggywasn't so sure about her new home at first.

"Festus came around the barn and kind of looked at her," Johnson said. "And she backed up because she had never seen a donkey before. And he said, you know 'Hi, I'm a nice guy to know.'

"He's quite a handsome brute. They sniffed, as animals do, and they've been together ever since."

Grant and Johnson have known each other less than a month, but both agree they've formed a strong bond.

"The whole move has been very stressful and this is the happiest moment of my entire life to find a home for Peggy," Grant said.

Grant is already making plans to bring her granddaughter out to see Peggy at Christmas. Johnson likenedthe new friendship to a heartwarming Christmas story.

"She can still help me out with helping Festus out and he's not lonely," Johnson said.

The two women hug and smile constantlyas they feed the animals on Johnson's farm, indulgingFestusand Peggy's sharedlove of oats.

"We have become very good friends through this and she's always welcome here," Johnson said.

"It's just a beautiful story."