OLATHE, Kan. — An Olathe woman’s donkey statue has been loved by her neighborhood for years. It sits on the side of 143rd Street and is always wearing a new paint design.
Throughout the month of June, it was painted the colors of the rainbow. It has been vandalized twice since.
The donkey statue is named Donk Donk.
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“There he lived for many years, minding his own business,” said Louise, the statue owner.
Louise painted it a rainbow at the request of a little girl who drives past Donk Donk every day. She said it just happened to coincide with Pride month.
The first time Donk Donk was vandalized, it was allegedly set on fire.
That’s when Louise put up a camera. She saw the second act of vandalism on her security footage: Donk Donk was thrown across the road.
“I saw that he was cracked in place, he was leaking his sand, his head was all split and I thought, 'This is just awful,'” she said.
Even though parts of the donkey are falling apart, the surrounding neighborhoods are coming together.
Louise said since she posted about the vandalism on Nextdoor, she’s received dozens of messages of support for Donk Donk. She even received offers to fix or replace the donkey.
“The one positive thing that has definitely happened because of this is just the sheer number of positive things that have been said, [the] support and how upset people are,” Louise said.
People who love the statue have left flowers and signs. Louise said when she’s out with Donk Donk, she often gets people stopping by to hear his story.
“I can’t see him from my house, but everyone who drives by can, and ... that’s the beauty of it. He’s really everybody’s donkey,” she said.
Louise will always have a donkey statue.
She’s deciding whether to fix or replace Donk Donk, and she wants people to know that if she has to take Donk Donk to get fixed or replaced, she’ll leave a sign so people know that he'll be back soon.
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