Imagine you’re a student at UC Riverside listening to yet another dire lecture —the consequences of climate change, the origins of war in the Middle East — when a couple of donkeys stroll by the window. |
It’s hot. They wandered down from the scorched hills to nibble the well-irrigated lawn. You smile at them and their sweet, insouciant faces gaze back at you. |
Nice, right? Not so fast. |
Like so much in our fractious public discourse these days, the Inland Empire’s mysterious wild donkey herds are sparking fierce, sometimes scary debate. |
Dangerous donkeys |
On one side is the public safety crowd, who insist the 500-pound beasts are a menace to the free flow of commerce. Five burros were killed and a driver was injured when a herd wandered onto the 215 Freeway in 2020. Six donkeys were killed when a train hit them in San Timoteo Canyon a year later. |
And donkeys don’t just stroll around snarling traffic; they can be pretty surly. |
While reporting on wolves attacking livestock in Northern California, I was stunned to learn some shepherds put donkeys in their pastures to ward off predators. The big, biting burros are more than a match for a wolf, or two. But their ire isn’t limited to predators. They don’t hesitate to send those heavy hooves flying at sheep or people who rub them the wrong way. |
“And some people just think they’re pests,” said my colleague Clara Harter, who wrote a front-page story on the IE’s donkey-gate yesterday. “They don’t like them wandering into their backyards, or eating their plants or pooping on their lawns.” |
That antipathy took a vicious turn last year, when donkeys started showing up around Moreno Valley with arrows buried in their flesh. |
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A wild burro that was wounded by an arrow in September 2025, just one in a series of such bow attacks in Riverside County. (donkeyland.org) |
Blessed burros |
But a plan to have a donkey rescue service relocate some of the burros to wide-open spaces in Texas fell apart when people branding themselves as donkey advocates likened the idea to human family separation. |
“My whole family is gone,” read one well-circulated social media post, narrated in the first person from a donkey’s perspective. “Everyone was so scared and tried to run but they could not escape,” the writer continued. “Now I am all alone. Please help me find my family!” |
Tensions escalated from there. |
“As is sometimes the case with people in the animal rescue world,” Harter said diplomatically, “the passion can get loud and angry.” One local group started referring to a spot where donkeys have frequently been attacked as “The Triangle of Death,” Harter noted. |
Mark Meyers, executive director of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, a Texas-based nonprofit that San Bernardino County officials hired to move some of the animals, was also taken aback by the passion in the advocate community. “I’d never received a death threat until I started rescuing donkeys,” he told one news outlet. |
In the end, opposition to the plan got so fierce that county officials called it off. |
Now, UC Riverside scientists are studying the animals, trying to learn where they came from, how they affect the local habitat and whether there are more humane measures — like physical barriers or wildlife overpasses — that would help keep them out of harm’s way. |
And students can still enjoy the sight of them wandering around campus or snoozing in the shade of parking structures, as long as they keep a respectful distance. |
Top stories |
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Pedestrians cross State Street in Santa Barbara, one of the four California cities whose water utilities rank among the 10 most expensive in the United States, a new report says. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) |
The highest water bills in the country |
- If you’ve noticed your water bills getting a lot more expensive, you’re not alone.
- In a new nationwide survey of 500 large drinking water utilities, researchers found that average water bills have gone up 1.6 times as fast as inflation, and Californians are paying some of the highest bills.
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El Niño threatens the coast again |
- An El Niño-fueled Kelvin wave is bearing down on the Southern California shoreline, bringing with it the boosted risk of significant coastal flooding and beach erosion.
- Forecasters also warned of an increased risk of drownings this week due to larger waves and strong rip currents, and cautioned that the ocean “may be too dangerous for swimming.”
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A secret network of brothels in the San Fernando Valley |
- A woman’s call for help in 2024 pulled back the curtain on what the LAPD called a “spider web” of brothels across the San Fernando Valley.
- Several people have been charged in connection with the bust, but whoever oversaw the network has so far managed to elude arrest.
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Commentary and opinion |
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Editor’s pick |
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The Stahl House has been sitting on the market for nearly a year and is currently listed at $20 million. Real estate agents say the price of reputation is hard to pinpoint. |
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(Helen Musselwhite / For The Times) |
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Today’s recipe |
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A jar of passion fruit curd at Jenny Silbert’s Little City Farm in Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) |
If sunshine had a flavor, this passion fruit curd would be it. The challenge when cooking curd is to cook the eggs gently so they don’t turn into scrambled eggs. The secret: Go slowly. This recipe calls for using a double boiler — or a makeshift double boiler, setting a heat-proof bowl or saucier over a pot of simmering water. With a double boiler, you are cooking with steam rather than direct heat, preventing the eggs from cooking too quickly. |
Question for you |
What is your favorite Halloween candy? |
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. |
Photo of the day |
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When Los Angeles required Jenny Silbert to dismantle a backyard pergola, the thriving passion fruit vine entwined around it had to go, leaving her with baskets of ripe fruit. Here’s how she turned a destroyed passion fruit vine into luscious curd. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) |
Games |
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Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games. |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
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