Hello,

My name is Norman (originally Clem) and I'd like to share my story with you today.

I was part of a herd of 55 donkeys that had been abandoned in Texas, nobody really knows the story behind that part of my life, and I really only remember from the time I was at the Kaufman/McBarron's Feed Lot.  For those of you who are not aware of what a feed lot is, I was told by my herd that we were there to be fattened up and then we were shipping across the border to Mexico to be slaughtered for human consumption (yes, people eat horses & donkeys).

Anyway, back to my story...on May 13th 2014 there was a very nice lady who lived very far away, her name is Lora, she came across a post on the Rescue Links page about a load of 55 donkeys that were soon heading to slaughter.   She was able to reach a guy named Mike and made arrangements to pull a pregnant Jenny (that's a girl donkey).  She was told the cost was $250 and she had 1 day to get her donkey out of there...

Lora sent the bail money and found a very nice lady named Janice who lived close enough to the feed lot who happens to run a quarantine station near the Kaufman Lot.  It started to rain for 2 or 3 days before Janice was able to get me off the lot, and since the donkey she was pulling was supposed to be a pregnant Jenny, I found out my name was Clementine. 

So we made the trip to Janice's, she kept Lora notified daily via email, texts & phone calls.  Janice was very worried , she said I was very little and she felt I was very young and she worried that if I was pregnant I may not have a live birth because I was so small  and thing.  My hair was filthy and my body was skin and bones and I was very bloated.  Janice said I was very shy and not used to people or horses I found my own little hideaway where the horses couldn't get to me.  I liked to lay in big piles of hay so I could lay down and eat and sleep in this bed of hay.  I spent most of my time alone but I did venture out for short periods and slowly made a few friends.  There was one large black mare who would watch over me, then when she left to go to her rescue I found a paint who watched over me...finally about 30 days later a vet came out to certify I was safe to cross the State's Borders Crossings, he also vaccinated me and de-wormed me before I left to start my way up to my brand new life in WA.  I knew I would miss Janice, she was so kind and I had started to trust her, oh and she found out that I was not a pregnant girl but rather a little boy so my name was shortened to Clem.   It was sad to leave as I had just started to follow her around and I was actually starting to thrive there.

On June 16th the hauler came to bring me to northern Washington State.  the trailer had other rescue horses already loaded as well as some high-end hunter-jumper horses too.  I was so small compared to these big horses! 

Pictures were sent to my new Mom Lora, she saw pictures of me tied in a huge trailer next to these giant horses and she just knew I was wouldn't make the trip, I was just a baby, but nobody really knew just how much of a baby I was.  I think if the hauler had not taken me off the trailer in southern CA I might not be alive to share my story with you today...

June 17th, one day after I left the safety of Janice's, the transporter asked if he could pull me off the truck at his place in CA.  I was so weak I wasn't able to stand and I had really bad diarrhea!  He said he'd feed me and get me strong enough to travel and that he had a pregnant donkey himself so Lora felt he would be able to care for me.  Lora wished she had left me with Janice because I had started to do so well there.  I felt like it was my new home and I belonged there and really liked her!  I was also very sad, not only did I lose Janice, but I had lost my whole family, all 54 of them. I was scared, I didn't feel good, my tummy hurt and my legs burned every time I pooped. 

I somehow made it to the haulers place in CA.  Another vet came out and treated me for worms and sand colic and thought I should come in for more intensive treatment because I was dehydrated.  Lora knew it couldn't be right, because just a short time before I was doing so well in Texas with my first friend Janice.  Janice said I was thriving and now I was just so sick and sad.  Lora felt she had lost all control and also any possible future of saving me.  Lora at this point had not told her husband about me yet, because just a month before she rescued a horse from a kill pen in Washington.   I had heard this was a very lucky horse with a very happy life with Lora and I had so hoped I could share his life with him.  Lora knew IF she could get me home she could fix me but how to get me so very many miles away.  She felt lost and so did I.

My mom Lora got in touch with her Niece Maria who does dog rescue who lives in NV.  She has done amazing things using social media to get dogs out of high kill shelters and from point A to point B and find loving adopters.  Lora told her my store and that she thought I needed to find a forever home in CA, a sanctuary that understood equines and hopefully one that knew donkeys or she feared I would lose my life.   Lora was sad enough that my whole herd had lost their lives and she just couldn't lose me too...she had to make a decision and do it quickly as I couldn't' stay at the haulers place forever.  My diarrhea had not cleared up and I was so thin and weak...

Maria told Lora she had connections and was going to see what she could do to help me.   She called all over and worked so hard to find me someplace to live....forever....

That night Lora heard the call from my Now Mommy Tania,  My mommy Lora said she read mommy Tania's email and heard her voicemail and she just knew this was the right place.  She knew I would call Mustang-Spirit Rescue  my new home. 

Lora says she wasn't sure Tania realized exactly what she was getting into when she told her about me.  She didn't know if Tania was prepared for such a sight.  I looked to be on my last leg...I was tiny, thin, so weak I couldn't not stand and likely on deaths door step.  But she took me in and Tania and her husband Tracy have done what they do, helped him get healthy and given him all the love he could possibly want.  Lora says it was love that saved me!

Lora's feelings of responsibility for me, her little guy, goes deep.  She honestly believed those that slaughtered my family see no value in our essence but only in our bodies, as commodities, products of their greed of their darkness, humans who know well the price of everything but the value of nothing.  Lora said she knew that I, Clementine, Clem, Norman...I had a message for mankind.  Perhaps now I can live and say what needs to be said, to see that my message is delivered!!!

Let me backtrack just a little bit, on July 9th Tania received a email at her Mustang-Spirit account from Elizabeth, President of Hanaeleh (www.hanaeleah.org) Horse Rescue, it read as follows (personal info has been removed)

To whom it may concern, please call me if you can help at all-my cell is 775-***-**** or call Lora at 360-***-****. This guy was rescued from slaughter, but major stress has hit him and he may be in trouble-he has made it to Los Angeles area from Texas, although the sponsor lives in Washington State that’s been funding his transport/boarding/vetting-if you had room and could promise to help him, maybe he can come to you-or just stay temporarily? Read below, and the attached is the vet info. Thank you for any help at all. If you cannot help him please forward this to any rescues who can.

Very Respectfully,

Maria

THEN THE FOLLOWING EMAIL WAS ATTACHED:

Here is the information on Clem.

He was one of 55 donkeys that had been rounded up from abandoned lands in Texas and trucked to the Kaufman McBarron Slaughter Holding Station schedule to ship across to Mexico.  I am in the rescue links so was contacted, and I was able to contact them and have Mike pull one of the donkey's off the truck to save him.  I linked to a quarantine person close by who picked him up within a couple of days and held him in quarantine for 30 days on her property near Kaufman.  While there he was vetted, and certified healthy to cross state borders in order to ship him to the Pacific Northwest.  

While there he was on Thrive (a product only sold in certain areas, mostly Texas) and he was doing exceptionally well with Timothy and Thrive.  He is small and delicate, but truly began to thrive and his health was not an issue, other than he required stability and safety and to continue with correct feeding.  He was cleared to ship so we arranged for a shipper (*** **** Transport) out of California and Vegas, to bring him north with a clean-load shipment of hunter/jumpers and two other rescued quarter horses who had been quarantined and vet certified, traveling to Oregon and Washington.

The hauler contacted me on day 2 to say "Clem" wasn't doing well.  He was very lethargic and had diarrhea and he felt we should pull him from the truck, that he would keep him at his place in S. CA for a couple of weeks, continue good feeding and try again when he was strong enough to travel.  The other equines were all fine to ship.  Hauler has a pregnant donkey, too, and hoped they would connect and she could help him, as he is definitely suffering from depression/stress.

Clem has been at Hauler's place for 2 weeks, and the vet came out and treated him again for worms (which we'd already done in Texas) and also for sand colic, which I've heard is not common to donkeys?, and an ulcer -- although he has never been scoped, and was truly thriving prior to the shipping experience.  

At this point, I feel like shipping him north will be too much of a stressful incident for this little animal, and only want him to be happy and cared for.  My hope has been to find a sanctuary near Hauler's place -- I know that Riverside is fairly close -- and move him to a place with other donkeys/burros where he can be among his own kind and hopefully, begin to thrive.

I am willing to donate and assist as needed to help him in a sanctuary situation.  

I have attached the vet record from Janice's (quarantine location)  place in Texas where he was initially vetted and cleared for takeoff.  We initially thought he was a pregnant female -- as that's what I'd hoped to save -- a Jenny and foal, however, he was just a bloated little boy.  From Clementine to Clem.

Thanks so much for your assistance!

====================

Early that Friday, morning July 10th, Tania, President/Founder of Mustang-Spirit Equine Rescue read this story and just could not get this little donkey out of her mind but knowing funds were tight did not act upon the plea....

At feeding time, Tania's husband asked what was wrong as she seemed sad.  She told him about Clem and he said, go get him.  Call when we're done feeding and go get the little guy....

So not realizing all contact info listed was work email and work phone numbers Tania sent emails to everyone and tried to call everyone but being almost 5 pm on a Friday already was not hopeful to reach anyone till the following day.

Surprised, about 2 hours or so later, an email was received saying there had been no commitment to help poor little Clem as of yet.  Details were worked out, phone calls and emails exchanged, and an appointment was made with the hauler to receive Clem at rescue in Pinon Hills, CA