We will have to be careful with this release to stay out of Facebook Jail, but you should still get a kick out of it! An escaped donkey, we’ll affectionately call “Donkey Hote,” was rescued early this morning and returned home.

At 1:03 a.m. the Stafford County Emergency Communications Center received an a-mule-sing call for a donkey walking in the 400 block of Brooke Road. We can guess the dispatcher wondered if this was a prank call! Imagine being the deputy assigned this call...he must have thought hee-halways gets the weird ones.

Fortunately, Deputy A.J. Deasy remained as mule as a cucumber and used his brayin power, and some help from Deputy D.J. Ferrell, to catch the wayward animal. In a dramatic twist of the childhood game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” it became “Return the Donkey to the Pen!” We won’t burro you with all the de-tails, but the donkey was reunited with his owner in stable condition. We hope and bray he doesn’t escape again.

Have you always wanted to tell a deputy to go get a donkey out of the road? Our Emergency Communications Center is hiring! Visit staffordsheriff.com to see all our job opportunities.