Mlle. Sonette Leaves Zoo for Her New Home

A sign reading, “Careful, I May Bite,” was hanging outside an empty cage at the San Diego Zoo while a mule nearby wandered aimlessly, looking for its companion.

After nearly five months of controversy over health test results, Sonette, the rare French donkey, left the zoo Tuesday to accompany her owners to her new home on their North County farm.

Imported from France by UC San Diego veterinarians Sharon and Jack Vanderlip in December, Sonette, one of about 60 Poitou donkeys in existence, was unable to pass initial U.S. Department of Agriculture tests and, under the law, was ordered out of the country or put to death.

After negotiations between the agency and the Vanderlips, the rare donkey was finally transferred from quarantine in Los Angeles to the San Diego Zoo for retesting in an effort to save her. A clean bill of health was issued early in January when the 7-month-old shaggy brown donkey passed tests for equine diseases that the USDA protects U.S. livestock against, according to San Diego Zoo officials.

According to veterinary experts, the equine tests used by the agency are unfair to donkeys, mules, zebras and other exotic equines that react idiosyncratically to the tests.

The Vanderlips said their goal is to help propagate the diminishing population of Poitou donkeys. They plan to import a mate for Sonette by November, they said.

“While I was in veterinarian school in France, I thought it would be a great idea to start a herd of these donkeys,” Sharon Vanderlip said.

If it becomes impossible to import another Poitou, Jack Vanderlip said, artificial insemination may be used to breed the species.

Sonette will be joining two mules and a horse at the Vanderlip home in Olivenhain.