Meet Belle

You might have heard the story of Belle. She was an owner surrender who arrived a few months ago along with her bonded companion, Stelle. 

Stelle was very people-friendly and handled the adjustment with ease. But Belle was pretty standoffish and didn’t want much to do with humans. We worked on getting them settled at the ranch and integrated with the herd. 

Then one day in late May, the sun came up, and we found that Stelle had passed away in the middle of the night. When our team found her, Belle was standing guard over her body. 

We didn’t know what had happened to Stelle. There were no signs of struggle, and the ground was not disturbed. There were no signs of predators. Likely, Stelle had died of a heart attack. It looked like she just dropped dead—which, quite honestly, is the most peaceful way for a donkey to go. 

But then, we had one donkey left without her companion. We kept a very close eye on Belle in the days that followed. Something very interesting happened: she started to become more friendly towards people. 

Belle was grieving and decided to let humans in. She started with our volunteers and then moved on to our staff. With hands on Belle, we helped her realize that humans can be good and would help her through her emotional recovery. 

Around the same time, we met an interested adopter who came to the ranch. She had two donkeys but recently lost one of them. The surviving bonded companion was grieving and needed a friend. 

As luck would have it, this potential adopter fell in love with Belle—and Belle fell in love with her. So after being surrendered by her previous owner, adjusting to life at Oscar’s Place, and losing her best friend—all in the span of a few months—Belle has found her forever home! 

As she continues her own healing, she will provide comfort to another grieving donkey. Belle and her new companion will be there for each other and live together for the rest of their lives in a home with loving humans. It’s really the best-case scenario we could have ever hoped for. It’s a wonderful ending for Belle, all things considered. Thanks to caring people like you, Oscar’s Place was able to facilitate it. 

Thank you for being there for our donkeys (and our team) through grief, healing, and new beginnings. Learn more about adopting a donkey from Oscar’s Place.