Charly indicated:
"I want to go to my little one Lilly"
Charly was one of the first donkeys at Gut Aiderbichl in Henndorf. Michael Aufhauser bought the donkey with the velvety, dark brown coat at a horse market. For about six years, Charly was used as a riding donkey for children before he was handed over at the horse market.
Our Charly turned out to be a "cheeky chap" who loved to roll around in the sand or throw hay on his back.
For many years, Charly was to be the lead donkey in the donkey group of Henndorf. Fellow donkeys like Mario, Johnny, Falco, Moritz or Dominique, and all the other residents in the Donkey House, had respect for Charly. If you were a teacher of a donkey school class, you could classify Charly as a very wise, smart donkey. Nothing and no one could really upset him. His "Iah" was soft, husky and full of joy, he loved people and his fellow donkeys. One can also say that Charly was characterized by team spirit
He was beautiful, gentle and charming - our donkey Charly. He was also very good at flirting. His heart beat only for one: for the little Lilly from Tassos. She had been a working donkey in Greece, had only one eye left and was a proud donkey with a strong character.
Even though Charly was many years younger than his little Lilly, his attention and love was only for her.
They walked out of the stable together and spent the day in the courtyard in the sun, standing next to each other, or just did many laps in the privacy of their own home. Charly always walked or stood to the left of Lilly. She had no more right eye, and could see her Charly only with the left one. Of course, the clever donkey Charly knew that.
One friend was allowed to march with the two, that was Jaqui. So the three were a special trio and lived together for years in the stable of the donkey house with all their gentleness, contentment and strength.
Jaqui died and also little Lilly went to donkey heaven a few months ago. Although Charly felt for some time that Lilly was getting weaker, maybe he didn't want to believe that what had happened a few weeks ago was the last walk together to the pasture, and that she was to fall asleep there forever.
The day after Lilly's death, Charly suffered a severe colic and had to go to the clinic. They tried everything humanly possible. He was given the best medications and treatments, but nothing really seemed to help. Charly was no longer the same as when his Lilly was alive and ailing. Everything was tried and made possible to give him strength again. A few days ago he laid down and we knew that there was no more way for Charly. It had become dark in his world. It was as if he wanted to tell us:
"I want to go to my little one Lilly".
Dear Charly,
You have left wonderful traces in people's hearts. You often made us laugh and, well, in the last few weeks you also showed us that animals absolutely suffer and grieve.
Thank you for letting us get to know you and love you. Thank you for trusting us and for letting us be your friends.Take care, Charly. I'm sure you've already discovered your little Lilly up there, in donkey heaven. Do not forget us.