Columbia, CA—A resident near Columbia College is warning neighbors that a mountain lion killed one of his donkeys and came back for a second one this week.
Eddie Hawkins is grieving after his miniature donkey, 23-year-old Clementine. She was attacked overnight on Sunday (5/17/26) after a cougar climbed a gate on the property in the 21800 block of Sawmill Flat Road off Parrotts Ferry Road, killing her. Nearby, Hawkins found Sonny, his 22-year-old male donkey, who tried to defend Clementine but was wounded with deep claw marks on his face and chest. Hawkins says the two have been sharing the same pasture for 20 years.
The two donkeys were housed in an enclosed arena with stalls and a 12-foot-long gate, which Hawkins believed the big cat climbed to make his deadly attack. Hawkins stated that to keep Sonny safe and secure on Monday night (5/18/26), he turned on the inside light and a radio for noise to scare away the mountain lion if it was still prowling the area that night. Once back at his house, Hawkins realized he forgot to turn the outside lights around the arena on, so he headed back down to turn them on and out of the corner of his eye, “I saw something moving across in front of me and I turned the flashlight onto my left and the mountain lion went past me, going into the field next to me,” recounted Hawkins. “So, I turned on the flashlight, and in front of the stall was Sonny pacing back and forth at the gate. I just stood there with him until he did calm down.”
Hawkins advises residents in the area to keep an eye on their pets when outside, check on farm animals often, and keep them indoors at night to prevent another owner from suffering the same tragedy. While he knows it would be good for Sonny to have another companion to get over the horrific loss and plans to do so in the future, right now, both are still mourning the death of Clementine.
