Bonaire's Donkeys

The Spaniards brought wild donkeys to Bonaire in 1527 and left many wild except those taken as beasts of burden or for breeding. Today, about 400 still roam wild. Al Catalfumo, who has been living on Bonaire since 1980 and operates the Black Durgon Inn, told me that Texas A&M did DNA tests and they are descendants of the African Nubian wild ass, now extinct in their homeland.

The tourists, and most locals, love them. But not everyone. Will these wild donkeys disappear from Bonaire?

European conquistadors decimated indigenous populations while seeking gold and precious resources to fuel their widespread wars and royal extravaganzas. Slave quarters remain on Bonaire. A salt flat gave enterprise to that industry.

The island is mostly bare rock. Sparse vegetation grows; cactus predominates. Flamingos perch on one leg in salt flats. Donkeys roam the islands, as do iguanas. Some locals eat the iguanas, savoring their tails. The species that does not seem to be endangered, smears sun tan lotion on themselves, and looks for a place to swim. Or dive.

Why do donkeys on Bonaire eat potato chips?

Bonaire is not exempt from silly antics by tourists interacting with land and marine creatures. Tourists are fascinated by the donkeys, and, lacking common sense, feed them potato chips or other junk. On trips to Bonaire long ago, divers took cans of cheese on dives and squirted it at fish to attract them. They should have saved it for chips they likely fed to donkeys.

Potato chips notwithstanding, donkeys eat, and their residue becomes fertilizer. Some wander free, and before a rather aggressive program to castrate males and confine seven hundred, their freedom was assured, as was their survival as a species. Bonaire's donkeys, like America's wild horses, are considered feral since they were once imported and then left to breed in the wild. In the U.S., wild horses died out some ten thousand years before Europeans ventured across the Atlantic.

The Rescuers

Catalfumo first traveled to Bonaire with dive groups in 1974. While leading groups from his dive shop, Diver's Cove, in Laurence Harbor, New Jersey, he slowly began a transition and moved to Bonaire in 1980, where he opened the Black Durgon Inn dive resort. He became a friend of the legendary Captain Don Stewart, who put Bonaire diving on the international map. Al is a donkey lover.

Back then, conservation efforts and laws protecting marine resources -- e.g., boat moorings so anchors would not damage coral -- on Bonaire were not in place. People like Captain Don, Al Catalfumo, and Dee Scarr, along with enlightened government officials from the Netherlands and the island's patriarchs, saw nature husbanded.

If you want the donkeys, there are substantial, environmentally sound reasons to keep them free and wild. The population can be controlled without draconian measures. If you do not want the donkeys, you may take pleasure when some drunk hits one with his car and causes a stir. But most advocate that they are nice to have. Some critics say donkeys eat the island bare. I've never seen a donkey eat a flamingo, and as for Bonaire's iguanas, well, they have to protect their own tails.

Saving the Donkeys

The conservation groups, Bonaire's Donkey Protection League and We Care for Bonaire, have proposed solutions to preserving the donkeys. Despite their good intentions, nays were winning the political battle.

In general any organization anywhere that gets money, governmental aid and sanction, foundation grants, or tourist dollars by contributions or from admissions and sales of T-shirts, will be loath to give it up. Somebody has power, gets money for being in power, thus has a raison d'être.

The good news is that the Bonaire Island Council has just given donkeys approval to stay. Catalfumo says, "It now goes to the Executive Council on the island for approval and to make it into law. The Wild Donkey Act is very similar to the United States' Wild Horse Act." And while more than 70,000 horses and burros run wild on federal lands, the U.S. Act doesn't stop government officials and their contractors from rounding them up using helicopters, confining them in feed lots, and, as often as not, euthanizing them.

"Bonaire's special historic Nubian donkeys need to be protected at all costs. No donkey should be eliminated due to prejudice, convenience, or monetary gain," Catalfumo declares.

Keep donkeys wild and free on Bonaire. Most tourists will comply with good sense and eat their own potato chips. Live and let live.

John Christopher Fine
(Scarsdale, NY)