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We are back from our 2nd trip to St John and again very relaxing. Where we stayed in Coral Bay this year we were frequently visited by a donkey couple and their small baby, we had no problem with that as we are animal lovers. At times they make a little noise but one night in particular the noise lasted all night . Finally about 6:00 a.m. I got up to check out what all the noise was about, found nothing. Another of our guests walked to the bottom of the driveway and came back with tears in het
eyes, the baby donkey was laying dead-now what to do. We called the caretakers of our villa and they were able to take care of the situation. We were all very cautious as we did not know how mama would react. It all went fine until that night-I think they were still looking for their baby. Now we know what all the noise was the night before-the baby was most likely dieing and would not get up. There was not any blood, so we don't think see was hit. Now we are wondering if these animals are susceptable to heartworm?
So to all future travelers to St John and the Coral Bay area, Please Be Aware of The New Spring Baby Donkey's and watch for these animals.
Mricco
It is a hard life in paridise they have to survive on there own. There are so many things that could happen.
I realize that, I guess I am an ole soft touch. Things like that bother me especially if we as humans can help to prevent them, just by maybe abiding by the speed limit on the island especially coming into the Coral Bay area, everyone drives fast and foolish in my opinion.
Mricco
That is so, so sad! I'm a big animal lover - heck, everytime we leave to go out of town and I have to leave my pups, it saddens me.... and I have 3 human children! I know the donkeys are a little annoying to the islanders but, they are another part of STJ that makes its such a neat place, and they need to be respected as well!! So sorry you had to witness that.
We also stayed in Coral Bay this past April. Wonderful location, and very relaxing. -I honestly don't know what we would have done under those circumstances, as I'm sure it was the last thing you would've ever imagined happening during your vacation. I think your plan of action (when the s*#! hit the fan), was the most sensible, but I too would've been upset.
Sorry to hear about it.
Smiles-(Don't forget to...)
MJ
Hey,
Thanks to those who like me have a soft spot in our hearts. I guess my main objective was to let travelers to St John know of these little creatures and maybe no one else has to expierence what we did.
Mricco
That is too bad. We would also have been very saddened by it, too. I got curious about the donkeys a while ago. They are feral, so no one takes care of them or is responsible for them, but I did wonder who would deal with a sick, injured or dead donkey? Is it property owners, as in this case? I posted the question but got no response. I'd be interested if the rangers have any info. I do remember several years ago when some donkeys around Caneel had become pretty aggressive that they were actually euthanized to the horror and anger of many people.
There was some research done on STJ's donkey population quite a while ago. The abstract can be read on line:
I guess I was never quite curious enough to pay for the entire article.
Micrro
I took it as the little donkey wasn't hit if it was I'm sorry for that if not wild animals do die for different reason sad yes but not much we can do. I heard a while back the where thining the heard because they were eating them selfs out of food mother nature has a way of taking care of things.
The villa we were staying at was not on National Park Service property. We contacted the managers of the villa first, they in turn contacted the NPS and were told they the individual property owner would have to deal with it if the animal were to be removed. Of course it had to be removed. And I"m sorry this may very well be a "nature" thing to "some" but it was pretty da........! tuff seeing the mother of this baby standing there trying to make it get up. Enough said, let's just end it here. It just upsets me all the more.
Thanks to those who "DO CARE"
Mricco
There are many of us here on the various islands who care very deeply about the fate of both the indigenous and introduced species. Groups and individuals expend time and energy in caring for them and it's an ongoing project which will continue ad nausea.
I think the VI is slowly coming ahead of many stateside communities where animal care is concerned - but we have a long way to go. Land development forces the local species out of their natural habitats.
Transplanted statesiders get ticked off when the iguanas eat their carefully planted veggies or crap around their pool. Well, either mesh up your veggie garden like the locals do - and understand that the iggies come to your pool just to get some water and chill out. They might crap on your deck but they don't crap in your pool and deck clean-up is easy.
I've rescued cats, dogs, a donkey, young iggies, lizzies and snakes seemingly forever.
The young donkey story is heartbreaking. The youngster might have died for many reasons but only an autopsy could determine the cause and obviously that wasn't performed.
My heart is with you. Cheers!
I'm sorry i do care I walked a peice of public property here this spring and found 50 deer remains from the bad winter. I Saddens me to think of the suffering they went through. Sorry if it seemed like I'm heartless.
Tom
You know, I found myself thinking about this situation off and on last night. And the more I thought about it, the sadder I felt about it. It's a really heartbreaking story. I've seen some little donkeys on STJ and (like the young of most species) they're very cute and fragile. The image on one lying dead in a driveway is disturbing. And the thought of the distressed parent/parents braying through the night is terribly sad. The first night because the baby was dying, the second night because it was gone. It's taken a little time for this to sink in. And just thinking about it doesn't come close to actually experiencing it. It's very sad.
I myself have posted this topic a while ago as i was wondering what happens to the sick and injured donkeys
The responces i got back were not what i thought they would be.
I just dont know what i would do if that happened to me as it would tear me up inside and probably ruin my week.
Last year when we were having our palm trees trimmed the man that was doing the work came across a nest of squirrels and jumped off the ladder quickly because once the babies started crying Mama came flying out of nowhere and started freaking out as she started to move the babies to another location
The sadest part of that was we think she was missing a baby cuz she was running from tree to tree frantically looking:-(
She continued to do this for over an hour
We looked on the ground but did not find him
THe donkey is just a horrible situation
Gobucs
