Perry the Donkey, ‘Shrek’ Model, Dies at 30

Perry, a miniature donkey whose owners said was used by DreamWorks animators as a model for the talkative “Shrek” character named Donkey, died last week at the age of 30.

Jenny Kiratli, manager of the Barron Park Donkey Project in Palo Alto, Calif., the organization that cared for Perry, said he was euthanized Thursday after pain in his hooves worsened due to a disease called laminitis. Another volunteer handler, Larry Reeves, said Perry had difficulty moving and at one point his legs were shaking.

Perry, a miniature Jerusalem donkey, was first brought to California to help calm the polo ponies, but he bit them instead, according to the project’s website. So, in 1997, the “brave” 3-year-old was brought to Bol Park in Palo Alto to live in a donkey pasture.

In 1999, DreamWorks animators who lived nearby met Perry and used him as a model for the character Donkey in their next animated film, “Shrek,” according to volunteers. Some handlers said that Donkey, while playful like Perry, had little else in common with the character voiced by Eddie Murphy.

“Perry just had an air about him, not so much like the Shrek character,” said Nanette Singer, who has volunteered with the group for four years. “He was all light, gentleness and gentleness.”