Smoke the Donkey is an American now

Smoke the Donkey, photo from
the Christian Science Monitor

Here's a follow-up to a story I first blogged about in January.

Three summers ago, an injured and hungry donkey wandered into a US Marine camp in Iraq's al-Anbar province. The camp's commandant, Col. John Folsom, declared the newly-monikered Smoke the mascot for the base. Smoke returned the kindness--he served as a therapy animal for the leathernecks. But when the Army moved into the camp, it didn't want Smoke. He was homeless again.

Folsom didn't forget about Smoke and he didn't fall for an Iraqi sheik's attempt at extortion as the colonel labored to bring him to Nebraska so he could be a therapy animal again.

Smoke is now an American donkey. He arrived in New York on a cargo jet earlier this week and will soon bring comfort at Take Flight Farms in Omaha.

Estimates of the cost to bring Smoke to the Land of the Free range from $30,000 to $40,000.

You're finally home, Smoke.

Related post:

Marine donkey mascot leaving Iraq for Omaha

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