‘Disappeared out of thin air’: Vet hospital near Calgary looking for 28-year-old donkey
Posted Sep 18, 2024 2:49 pm.
Workers at an animal hospital southwest of Calgary are on the lookout for a 28-year-old donkey that they say vanished this week.
Dr. Judith Samson-French, a veterinarian at the Banded Peak Vet Hospital in Bragg Creek, tells CityNews that the chocolate brown donkey Goliath has been missing from their property since Tuesday.
“Yesterday morning he was not at roll call,” said Samson-French on Wednesday, adding she typically wakes him up in the morning to feed him carrots and blueberry muffins.
Goliath has lived at Banded Peak for over 25 years and is typically hangs out with a herd of four other donkeys on the 25-acre forested property.
Dogs and search parties have been scanning the fenced-in area, as well as neighbouring properties. Samson-French says haven’t found a breach in the fence that Goliath could have slipped through.
“We have no clues…it’s like he disappeared out of thin air,” she says. “If you call his name he always comes to you.”
She says there are no signs another animal was involved in his disappearance, saying in the past when they have had incidents with other predators, like a cougar, the other donkeys are visibly shaken.
“They’re very edgy, they’re very shaky, and in this case the other donkeys are just normal and moving around as usual,” she says.
She did say the dogs discovered cougar droppings on a neighbours property, but no hair.
“They dogs are not sniffing anything, they are not spooked at all either,” she says.
The hospital has a drone arriving on Wednesday to assist with the search for Goliath. His disappearance has been reported to RCMP.
“I’m hoping no one tried to steal him in the middle of the night,” says Samson-French. “We are just looking for help if anybody sees or knows anything.”
Samson-French says Goliath would be very easy to spot, he is much shorter than most donkeys and his chocolate brown colour is rare, most donkeys have grey hair.
Anyone with information is being urged to contact the Banded Peak Veterinary Hospital at 403-949-3249.
