Perry, a miniature donkey whose handlers said he was used by DreamWorks animators as a model for the chatty “Shrek” character named Donkey, died last week at the age of 30.
Jenny Kiratli, lead handler at the Barron Park Donkey Project in Palo Alto, Calif., the organization that took care of Perry, said he was euthanized Thursday after pain in his hooves worsened from a condition called laminitis. Another volunteer handler, Larry Reeves, said Perry had been struggling to move around, and at one point his legs were shaking.
Perry, a Jerusalem miniature donkey, was first brought to California to help calm polo ponies, but instead he nipped at them, according to the project’s website. So in 1997, the “spunky” 3-year-old was brought to Palo Alto’s Bol Park to live in a pasture set aside for donkeys to graze.
In 1999, DreamWorks animators who lived nearby came across Perry and used him as a model for the Donkey character in their upcoming animated movie, “Shrek,” according to volunteers. Some handlers said Donkey, although playful like Perry, did not have much else in common with the character voiced by Eddie Murphy.
“Perry just had an air about him, not so much like the character in Shrek,” said Nanette Singer, who has been volunteering with the group for four years. “He was all light and gentleness and sweetness.”
Shortly after Perry’s arrival, the group caring for the donkeys formalized as the Barron Park Donkey Project and became a nonprofit in 2001. It was the same year “Shrek” was released and became a cultural phenomenon, but Perry was known locally more for his affectionate nuzzles and friendly attitude with children.
Mr. Reeves, who has lived in the area since 1986, has been taking care of Perry and the other donkeys for about seven years with his 14-year-old grandson.
“Perry was a very special donkey,” Mr. Reeves said, adding that sometimes Perry would try to affectionately “take a bite out of my sweatshirt.”
By the time Ms. Kiratli joined as lead handler in 2016, the Barron Park Donkey Project had dozens of volunteers.
Around the same time, a donkey named Jenny joined the pasture with Perry. Ms. Kiratli said Jenny was “the love of his life” because of how playful the two were around each other.
“It was really so sweet to watch them become bonded,” Ms. Kiratli said.
After Jenny died in 2020, two more donkeys were brought to the group: Buddy and April. The two are still there and appeared to be more “subdued” after losing Perry, the handlers said.
In the final years of his life, a group of law students from Stanford University, which is down the street from the Bol Park, teamed up to campaign for Perry, who they said was never credited for his work with the “Shrek” creators.
Frishta Qaderi, 26, one of the students, said that when she began volunteering to take care of the donkeys in October 2023, she learned of Perry’s past stardom and his illnesses.
“It was very hard to see just a very weak and sick donkey who has all these medical bills,” Ms. Qaderi said, adding that she was struck by how Perry, suffering silently, had a role in the production of a film that touched lives around the world.
The students began writing and sending letters to DreamWorks executives and Mr. Murphy, asking them to recognize Perry for his work. (They received no response.)
The Barron Park Donkey Project, which is supported almost entirely by donations and volunteers, raised money on Perry’s 30th birthday to help cover medical costs of the park’s three donkeys. Hundreds of residents showed up for his party.
Shortly after, Perry’s story spread. Ms. Kiratli said the project received $27,000 in five weeks.
