Authorities are seeking the public’s help to locate two dogs and possibly their owner responsible for fatally mauling a wild donkey in Reche Canyon, the latest in a series of attacks that started last year.
Two large dogs — a black-and-tan German shepherd mix and a black cane corso attacked the donkey Tuesday near Keissel Road north of Moreno Valley, near the border of Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.
“Because of a resident’s quick action filming and reporting the incident to us, we are now looking for the public’s help to find these two dogs,” Animal Services Field Commander Lesley Huennekens said in a statement. “We have shared what we know with our partner agencies, as we continue our investigation, and we ask the public to contact our call center when they have information to share.”
Animal control officers confirmed the donkey in the attack was deceased after a passerby recorded video of the mauling using a mobile-phone camera and submitted the footage and photos to the county authorities.
Animal control officers searched the area but could not find the dogs. It was unclear whether their owner was nearby at the time of the attack, or if the dogs are abandoned strays roaming the region’s wilderness area.
A total of 22 wild burros have been attacked, with 14 incidents occurring in the last 10 weeks, authorities said. Only four injured donkeys have been successfully treated and saved.
Last month, an anonymous donor via local advocacy organization DonkeyLand offered $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the person or people responsible for the attacks.
Huennekens and DonkeyLand reported multiple cases of burros with mangled ears, tails, genitals and other body parts, leading to euthanasia because of the extreme wounds.
DonkeyLand Vice President Chad Cheatham said during a March 23 public meeting, attended by more than 250 community members and local authorities, that he was surprised to discover an industry of trainers producing “bite protection dogs.”
The attacks appear to happen in the darkness of early-morning hours, “2 or 3 o’clock and they let these dogs out to go hunt or play and get what they get, and unfortunately the donkeys are all over the place,” Cheatham told HeySoCal.com. “Donkeys will defend themselves, but if you’ve got three or four dogs coming at them it’s hard.”
He added that the discovery of bites to the head and other characteristics of the wounds point to dogs rather than wild predators.
“It’s so sad, they fought so hard, donkeys are so sturdy and so stoic next to elephants, which can take a lot of abuse and pain, and so can donkeys,” Cheatham said of the injured animals that required euthanasia. “They really don’t cry or scream, but in some cases it’s an ungodly sound and I’ve only heard it a few times.”
In addition to the dog attacks, a suspect or suspects armed with a bow and arrows shot six donkeys last year. The “serial archer,” as Cheatham described the attacks, has been taking pot shots at burros for two decades, with no arrests after more than a dozen total bow-and-arrow incidents. The last arrow attack was in September.
“Some we saved, some we couldn’t, we did recover an arrow that we turned over to the authorities,” Cheatham said.
A population of several hundred wild burros roam Reche Canyon between Moreno Valley and Redlands and also the area around Box Springs Mountain in Moreno Valley and Riverside. They freely wander municipal streets and residential neighborhoods, sometimes sleeping in yards outside homes.
Cheatham said the burros roam through mostly private property in eight animal control jurisdictions throughout the Inland Empire that include steep terrain and hard-to-access areas.
Anyone with information on donkey attacks was urged to call the Department of Animal Services, 951-358-7387, or the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station, 951-776-1099.
