Safe Haven: Keeping Old Donkeys

Enlarge Image Image Gallery John and Tish Hiestand provide donkeys and mules a loving home in a safe environment. Eric Hansen

A long-eared, fuzzy-faced old donkey named Blackjack, with heart-melting big brown eyes, started it all. Standing stately and secure now in his desert surroundings, it’s hard to believe that in 1997 he was headed to the slaughterhouse. Rescued by John and Tish Hiestand, Blackjack is now the mascot for a special sanctuary providing a safe haven for other abused and neglected donkeys. 

Forever Home Donkey Rescue and Sanctuary, north of Benson, Arizona, officially opened its ranch gate in 1998 after John gave 10-year-old Blackjack to Tish as a birthday gift. Knowing donkeys have a herd mentality like horses, the Hiestands decided to get Blackjack a companion. Answering an ad in a Tucson paper, they discovered a severely abused donkey, bringing it home to doctor for six months before he died. 

“That’s when we came to realize how much donkeys are neglected and abused due to being thought of as having no value,” Tish says. “Donkeys can be bought for $50 or less, so owners don’t think it’s worth it to call a vet for a $50 animal.” 

With 30 acres of creosote bushes, mesquite trees and cacti, the Hiestand property proved ideal for a private donkey domain, offering a wide-open space to wander and native forage for food. According to Tish, a donkey’s natural behavior is that of a browser. “This is an animal that should walk 15 to 20 miles a day in the desert and pick up a little piece of food here and there.” 

At Forever Home, the maximum number of rescued residents is 23, with 21 donkeys and two mules currently in residence. (There are no rescue organizations specifically for mules.) It’s become one big, happy, furry family for the Hiestands. Arriving at the ranch (reservations are required), a guest is greeted with the joyous sound of braying and hee-hawing. The welcome committee consists of John and Tish along with Lucy and Buster Brown. 

Every donkey has a heartbreaking story. Buster was captured in a Bureau of Land Management herd at 6 months of age in 1990 and adopted by a man for his grandchildren. The youngsters were afraid of the donkey, so Buster was passed from one owner to another for years until the Hiestands advertised for free donkeys. By then, he was so traumatized, he was suspicious of people. Then he met Lucy.