Everyone who came to The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada Farm was charmed by Solo, a large Standard gray-brown donkey. He was fascinated by people and he was particularly fond of standing next to a person and sniffing his or her ear. In addition, he was curious, playful and determined. Indeed, to be with Solo on a regular basis offered the opportunity to understand how very complex a donkey can be.
Solo was born in 1987 in Northern Quebec on a small farm in a village by a lake. His mother died during his birth and, as a result, from his early hours of life Solo was bottle-fed by one of his caretakers. During this process he bonded completely with her.
By the time that Solo was five years old, and after an unsuccessful, and harsh, training experience at a neighbour’s farm, Solo’s unpredictability had become a serious concern. His caretaker found it almost impossible to handle him but she refused to give him up unless he could be moved to a situation where he would be helped. Quite by chance, in a newspaper article, she learned of the DSC and subsequently requested that Solo be admitted to lifelong care.
Now, many years have passed since Solo was brought to the Sanctuary Farm. In that time he taught us a great deal about equine-human communication and about the language of body movement. Over time, we came to appreciate that, in Solo’s case, most every one of his responses was prompted by fear. He much preferred to pass all of his time in the barnyard, apart from the herd, and able to stand nearby staff and volunteers as they went about their work.
Solo was unique and from him we leaned a great deal about nonverbal communication. He was a very special member of the Sanctuary family.