Donkey rescued from well

By Jeff Hage (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, September 13, 2007

TOWN OF MAINE — Bryan Nelson had to look twice Thursday when he looked down his abandoned well.

“A donkey was the last thing I expected to see,” Nelson said.

A donkey belonging to Warren Gundberg fell into the abandoned well sometime Thursday morning, prompting the Underwood Fire Department to embark on a dramatic rescue mission that included pulling away earth with a Bobcat tractor and dismantling the well block by block in order to free the animal.

Underwood firefighters didn’t know what to expect when they arrived on scene.

“The call came in as a ‘donkey down a well’,” said Underwood Fire Chief Bruce Huseth.

“We’ve had lots of cow rescues from ice and lagoons, but never a donkey,” Huseth said.

When firefighters saw the donkey they knew they just couldn’t pull it from the well so they went to work clearing the earth around the well and taking it apart piece by piece.

Once the west wall of the well was dismantled, firefighters put a harness on the donkey and guided it out on a rope. Other then bruises, the donkey appeared fine.

Nelson was planning to someday fill the well, so the fact that fighters were able to dismantle it worked out for the best, Huseth said.

“Whatever it takes,” Nelson said as he watched his well come down.

“I love animals and I’m just glad it’s OK,” he said.

Nelson said it appeared that the donkey wandered from the Gundberg farm and fell through some boards that were covering the top of the well.

“I came out the door and noticed a hole in the boards. By the time I got over to it my dogs had gotten there and they were kind of freaking out,” Nelson said.

That’s when Nelson looked down the well.

“It was a big surprise,” he said.

Nelson went down to the Gundberg’s about a mile away and asked if they were missing a donkey.

“When they said ‘yes’ I told them it was in my well,” Nelson said.

Nelson and the Gundberg’s don’t have any experience in rescuing donkeys from a well, so they called the humane society, a veterinarian and then the sheriff’s department trying to find a rescue net.

“None of them had one, so we got a tractor and were going to try and pull him out but decided to call the rescue squad instead,” he said.

Gundberg was thrilled his donkey escaped the episode unharmed except for the fact that it lost some fur from rubbing up against the concrete walls of the well.

Minutes after the rescue, Gundberg was walking the donkey on the makeshift rope leash that had been used to pull the animal to safety.

The donkey was even eating from grass from the Nelson yard.

Gunderg has two donkeys named Amos and Andy. He didn’t know which of the donkeys had fallen in the well.

“This was the first time he’s ever left home,” Gundberg said. “We were feeding them (Wednesday) when they got out.”

“One went one way, one went another way,” he said.

Gundberg didn’t know where the donkey was until Nelson came knocking on his door, but he had a feeling Thursday afternoon that the animal might not stray far from home again.

“I bet you’ll think twice about doing that again,” Gundberg said to the donkey. “If you would have stayed home you wouldn’t be in this trouble.”

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