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Ellie Mae

Arrival Date:  September, 2009

Farewell Date: July 10, 2026

Ellie Mae arrived with her BFF Jethro in September 2009 from County of San Diego Department of Animal Services. At the time they came to us, Animal Services indicated that a number of people wanted to adopt Jethro, but no one was willing to take Ellie Mae, the other half of this tightly bonded pair. We are so grateful to Animal Services for recognizing that these two needed to stay together.

They remained inseparable until Jethro’s passing on May 7, 2019. When they arrived, they were accompanied by Sultan, an American Saddlebred who passed in 2014. They proved to be a very special trio when Sultan refused to be separated from “his” burros at the shelter. Sultan met them at the shelter, but the bond they formed was unbreakable.

We often introduced Ellie Mae by as the burro who put the “ass” in our Burro Brigade. We did this with a deep love for our spicy girl. And she could be very spicy indeed. She was definitely the boss of the Burro Brigade. As age and mobility issues slowed her down, she was often the last to arrive at the feed troughs, but all of the senior burros knew that she got first choice of the feeding location.

Farewell Date: July 10, 2026

As tough as our girl was, she couldn’t stop the aging process. She had developed stringhalt. This is a neuromuscular condition that caused Ellie Mae to hyper-flex her hind legs when she walked. Although she had battled through laminitis, it damaged her feet, complicating arthritic changes in her front legs. We added Gabapentin to her daily Bute and Prascend for her Cushing’s Disease, which helped.

But following her latest hoof trim we consulted with Dr. Rivett. She helped us see that our tough, spicy girl was fighting her way through each day harder than we should ever ask her to fight. We were so proud of our little Ellie Mae who had defied the odds so many times and stood up for herself every day. But it wasn’t fair to ask her to keep fighting as her body continued to decline. She would have hated to lose her top spot in the Burro Brigade.

So, Jethro and Ellie Mae are back together again, for all eternity, with Sultan and Milton Burro. We just hope the Rainbow Bridge was ready for a spicy, opinionated ass princess that we loved more than words can say.

Fight on Ellie Mae!