Perry the donkey, known as model for Donkey character in 'Shrek,' dies at 30 in California

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A donkey sanctuary in the San Francisco Bay Area is mourning the loss of Perry, popularly known for serving as the model for Eddie Murphy's character Donkey in the "Shrek" animated movie.

The 30-year-old Perry was euthanized on Jan. 2 following a battle with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, laminitis, arthritis and muscle atrophy, said Jenny Kiratli, lead handler with the Barron Park Donkey Project.

A Jerusalem miniature donkey, Perry was born in New York in 1994. In 1997, he was transferred to Barron Park in Palo Alto in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Perry, whose name was short for Pericles, was a "very special animal" who was funny, feisty and social with volunteers and guests, Kiratli said. Even toward the end of his life, Perry remained in good spirits, despite being heavily medicated and in pain.

Two other donkeys remain at Barron Park's donkey pasture, a 16-year-old white miniature named April and a 25-year-old brown Jerusalem miniature named Buddy. April and Buddy have always been close, but since Perry's death, they have spent even more time together, Kiratli said.

A memorial service will be planned for Perry in the coming months, Kiratli said.

'Shrek' animators used Perry as model

Perry was quite a celebrity, known for serving as the model of the character Donkey in 2001's "Shrek." Perry did not inspire Donkey, as the character had already been written, but rather, he served as a model for animators to reference for appropriate body mechanics, said Rex Grignon, former head of character animation at DreamWorks Animation and the supervising animator for Donkey in "Shrek."

When the movie was in production in the late 1990s, Grignon told Paste BN on Monday that he was interested in finding donkeys to observe in person for reference.

Quite fortuitously, Grignon and his wife lived in Palo Alto, where the "Shrek" studio was based. On a walk around the neighborhood one day, Grignon's wife saw a group of donkeys out for a walk with handlers at Barron Park, Grignon said. Sure enough, the donkeys were a part of the Barron Park Donkey Project.

Contact information was exchanged and soon after, 10-12 DreamWorks animators met Perry, Grignon said. For about an hour, the animators sketched and took videos of Perry to better understand a donkey's natural foundation.

Studying Perry was important for the team, Grignon said, because it was the first time they had animated a quadruped.

What was wrong with Perry?

Kiratli said the decision to euthanize Perry was not an easy one, but his health conditions were only worsening. Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, also known as Cushing's disease, is a neurodegenerative and endocrine disease that results in tumors in the pituitary gland, a part of the brain that regulates hormones, according to Michigan State University's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Horses, ponies and donkeys with this disease may experience delayed shedding, muscle wasting, weight loss, increased thirst, behavior changes, reproductive abnormalities and frequent infections.

Perry also experienced nerve impingement, or nerve pinching, in his left hind leg. This caused him to put all of his weight on his right legs, and this extra weight led to laminitis and muscle atrophy, Kiratli said.

Laminitis, also known as founder, is an inflammation of the soft tissue in a donkey's hooves, according to The Donkey Sanctuary. Laminitis is painful and can even be fatal.

In his final few weeks, Kiratli said, Perry relied on three legs to walk, before he was unable to walk altogether.

"At one point, the other two donkeys (April and Buddy) laid down right where he was standing and the handler felt they were saying, 'C'mon, just like this, lay down,'" Kiratli said.

What is the Barron Park Donkey Project?

The Barron Park Donkey Project has deep roots in Palo Alto. In the 1950s, Cornelius and Josina Bol introduced donkeys to what is now the pasture at Barron Park where donkeys live, according to the Barron Park Donkey Project website. In the '90s, only one donkey remained, Mickey. The donkey became reliant on the help of five neighbors, as Josina had grown ill, Kiratli said. This was the beginning of the Barron Park Donkey Project.

Today, the Barron Park Donkey Project is a donor-funding fiduciary program of the Palo Alto Humane Society and more than three dozen volunteers help care for the donkeys, Kiratli said. Donkeys in residence receive three meals a day and daily walks. On Sundays, handlers walk the donkeys out in Barron Park, popular among locals and tourists.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add a video and correct how the Barron Park Donkey Project is funded.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at Paste BN. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.