Miniature donkey baby
Gina Herd holds Chestene, her miniature donkey that was named for her grandmother – because the baby was born on her grandmother Chestene Lietch’s birthday, Aug. 18. Herd said she has loved donkeys since she was a little kid, a fondness she shared with her paternal granddad, Buddy Herd. Now she owns seven of the miniature beasts. She said her “collection” started four years ago when someone gave her daughter, Sarah Hawkins, a miniature donkey they could no longer care for. “Once we got it, I found two little girlfriends for it, and now we have them all over the place,” she said. The newborn weighed “about 10 pounds, soaking wet,” Herd said, adding that her grown donkeys’ backs are “about waist high.” Although she’s accumulated quite a little herd, she insists the animals are not for sale. “They’re my pets,” she said.