Doing the best they can just got a little bit easier for Jack and Diane.
A rescue donkey named Jack and his best feathered friend, Diane the emu, have found a forever home with a celebrity owner thanks to Carolina Waterfowl Rescue‘s hard work.
The North Carolina-based sanctuary dropped the duo off at Jeffrey Dean Morgan‘s New York farm on Wednesday morning.
“They have a very nice paddock with lots of green grass. Jeffrey is building them a new heated enclosure, even though the one they have now is very nice. They will be spoiled,” Jennifer Gordon, executive director of Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, tells PEOPLE.
Carolina Waterfowl Rescue rescued Jack and Diane from a North Carolina farm, where the animals were seemingly abandoned by an absentee owner. It is unclear how long the friends were left to on their own, but it is apparent they formed a bond during their time together.
“I think Diane sees Jack as a mate since she ‘drums’ for him,” Gordon said, noting the mating call Diane makes around her donkey beau. “When we separated them trying to load Jack into the trailer, she was frantic. She was drumming for him, and that’s a way that emus call to their mates. Jack is very protective of her. It’s a donkey’s natural instinct to be a livestock guardian … we are not sure if he just feels the need to protect her or if he has the same feelings towards her. They both seemed to stick really close together and they obviously don’t like to be separated.”
Back at Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, the pair ate every meal together, slept side-by-side and chatted the days away in their own way.
“Somehow or another, they have a communication system … but it’s something that we don’t understand,” the executive director said.
It was clear to the sanctuary, which did not have the resources to care for Jack and Diane long term, that the duo needed a home together. As the story of the odd couple started to spread across the Internet, Carolina Waterfowl Rescue started to receive adoption requests.
“One concern we had about the pair is someone wanting them for the wrong reasons,” Gordon said. “I wanted them to be pets, not be an attraction or used to make money.”
So when Morgan tweeted that he was interested in giving the donkey and emu a forever home, Carolina Waterfowl Rescue researched the actor and his farm before saying yes.
After finding only good information about Morgan and his New York farm, the North Carolina sanctuary set up a day to drop Jack and Diane off at their new home.
Carolina Waterfowl Rescue drove the animals up to New York in a borrowed horse trailer — since their trailer was damaged during evacuations for Hurricane Florence — and dropped them off to enjoy a life of luxury and love.
For Gordon and her staff the moment wasn’t a “goodbye,” but a “see you later”. Gordon said that Morgan promised to send regularly updates on how Jack and Diane are adjusting.
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