It’s a tale of two donkeys ‒ one who got into a spot of bother with a “danger noodle” and another who brought saddle bags full of joy to young children.
First up, it’s a miniature donkey named Bug who is counting himself lucky after surviving what could have been a fatal snakebite (aka danger noodle). Bug’s caregiver, Tara Pilonero, who owns and operates Stay a While Farm in West Virginia, found him behaving oddly during feed time.
“I came back out to check on him again, and his whole muzzle had swollen up,” Pilonero told Virginia Tech News. “And he was having trouble breathing, and he had excessive drainage coming out of his nose. I’ve had one bitten by a copperhead before, so I immediately knew what had happened.”
The two-year-old Bug was rushed to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, where it was thought he had been bitten by a copperhead.
Once at the hospital, Bug was given an intravenous catheter and a temporary tracheotomy (an opening in his throat through which a breathing tube is placed). According to the article, antivenom and dextrose were administered through an IV and Bug improved quickly. He was discharged three days later.
The second bit of donkey news involves Corndog, a donkey who helped show first graders that reading is fun. It all unfolded at a primary school in Bismarck, North Dakota, when Meg Hollkup, the library media specialist, thought of the idea of having a real-life donkey come for a visit.
The class had been reading Waiting for the Biblioburro, about a girl waiting for a donkey to come bring her library books. So it seemed fitting when Corndog arrived wearing a saddle bag filled with books, bringing the story to life. Cue enthralled children and a happy librarian. But more than just a cute story, Corndog helped teach the class an important lesson in gratitude, learning that while they have access to a library full of books, children in other parts of the world do not.
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