The community not only loves Perry and the two donkeys he lives with, it also supports them by both volunteering and donating money for their medical care as they get on in years.
Perry has severe arthritis and the hormonal disorder equine Cushing’s disease. He gets acupuncture treatments for pain, said Jenny Kiratli, lead handler for the animals.
He lives in the pasture with Buddy, 24, who has equine dental disease, she said, and April, 15, who has diabetes and low thyroid disease and is being treated for a chronic hoof ailment.
As the donkeys have grown older, the cost of their medical care has gone up, Kiratli said. Miniature donkeys can live to about 30 or 35 years old.
“Last year, care for the donkeys cost $40,000, and we’re expecting it will continue to rise,” she said. “The donkeys are beloved by the community, so it’s important to continue giving them the care they need.”
About 30 volunteers for the nonprofit Barron Park Donkey Project now look after Perry and the other donkeys, using about $25,000 a year in public donations to pay for food, grooming and medical care. The fund is overseen by the Palo Alto Humane Society.
City residents have enjoyed the tradition of visiting and petting donkeys since 1934, when a couple from the Netherlands, Cornelis and Josina Bol, cared for a small herd in the city’s Barron Park neighborhood.
“Perry and all of the other donkeys that have lived in this pasture over the years have brought people lots of joy,” Kiratli said. “There’s something about looking into a donkey’s eyes that is really therapeutic.”
The Palo Alto City Council last month approved Mayor Greer Stone’s proposal to help the donkeys by matching community donations up to $10,000 in a one-time grant. Residents are rallying to match the mayor’s $10,000 offer by the June 23 deadline, with about $5,000 donated so far, Kiratli said.
Only one council member, Greg Tanaka, objected to city funds being used, saying that giving money to donkeys is an irresponsible use of the city’s discretionary funds.
For decades, the donkey pasture has been a popular place for people in search of calm and hope, said Gwen Luce, who has lived near the donkeys for more than three decades.
The burros also provide families a glimpse of rural life in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
“Children in the neighborhood love to view the donkeys in the pasture and look forward to seeing them at our community events,” Luce said, noting that Perry, the “old man” of the trio, has become a treasured community mascot.
Perry has lived at the park since 1997, when his former owner decided he no longer wanted to raise donkeys, Kiratli said. In 1999, he enjoyed a flash of fame when Rex Grignon, a 3D-film animator from Palo Alto, asked if he could bring a team to study and draw the little burro.
Grignon and his team from Pacific Data Images had contracted with DreamWorks to do animation for “Shrek,” a comedy loosely based on a children’s book by William Steig. One of the characters in the film was an annoying but lovable donkey known simply as Donkey. He had many of the movie’s biggest laugh lines.
Grignon said his wife, Patricia Frazier Grignon, had noticed Perry and another donkey in the pasture on her regular walks through the Barron Park neighborhood.
“My partner [at work] was taking on the character of Shrek, and I was taking on the donkey,” Grignon said in an interview with The Washington Post. “I needed some reference about how donkeys moved, and my wife mentioned the Barron Park donkeys.”
Grignon said he took 25 animators with him to watch and sketch Perry for an hour or so.
“We shot video of him moving around and did a lot of drawings — he was very cooperative as the handler walked him around,” he recalled. “Although we’d already designed Donkey, we wanted to figure out what makes a donkey a donkey, so it was really helpful to watch Perry move.”
When “Shrek” won an Academy Award in 2002 for best animated feature, Kiratli said people in Palo Alto were happy to know that Perry had played a small role.
“There’s a certain way that Donkey walks in the movie — it’s not really a prance but it’s similar,” she said. “That’s how Perry walks, and it’s unique — I’ve never seen another donkey do it.”
Kiratli said she also recognized the way that Donkey threw back his head, looked down his nose and rolled his eyes.
“I’ve seen Perry do that numerous times,” she said. “The only difference is he doesn’t shout, ‘Shrek!’”
Grignon stopped by the pasture to visit Perry in March and he said he was delighted to spend time again with the sweet-natured burro.
“He’s a lovely little donkey in a lovely little place,” he said. “He’s just like I remember him from years ago.”
