Standing tall: rescue donkey in America breaks record for the longest ears in the world
An adorable grey donkey in Byron, Georgia, USA has gone from a starving rescue to a beloved record holder, after breaking the Guinness World Records title for the longest ears on a living donkey last December at Frost Farm.
Aptly named Hope, the 15 year-old Mammoth Jenny came into the care of Hannah Frost (USA) as a frail and badly-kept rescue. After months of tender care and medical visits, she eventually recovered – and it was at one of these appointments that a veterinarian remarked that she had some especially long ears!
Turns out, Hope was special in more ways than one… and the donkey was just awarded the title for the longest ears in the world, measuring in at an incredible 1 ft 3 in (40.20 cm). That’s larger than a Subway sandwich, and 2 in (5 cm) longer than the prior record holder Bambou (UK)!
In her application to GWR, Hannah said that she decided to submit Hope for recognition so that the donkey could be rewarded for her resilient presence in the community. At the farm, the Frost family works on rehabilitating animals and conserving the endangered Mammoth Jackstock donkey population – of which Hope is a part – and her comeback was an inspiration to all.
“I'm hoping that this is raising awareness for equine – donkeys in particular – because I feel like they're so forgotten about,” she said to WGXA News.
Read more stories about record-breaking pets in our dedicated Animals section!
And to make sure that Hope could officially take the record, on 22 December last year Hannah invited three independent witnesses and a veterinarian with Central Georgia Equine Services to come out and take measurements of her fuzzy ears.
As Hannah soothed the excited donkey, veterinarian Julia Smith used a measuring tape to determine the distance between the base of the skull and the fluttering tips of the cartilage – resulting in Hope’s record-breaking measurement of 1 ft 3 in (40.20 cm).
And with her impressive ears, we’re sure that it wasn’t hard for this donkey to hear the good news!
“I wanted to be able to tell Hope's story, and I felt like to get any type of publicity, to get her story out there about the treatment [donkeys] deserve, the care they deserve, and their critical endangerment,” said Hannah to 13WMAZ News.
“I needed to get something that was a little bit newsworthy, a little bit notable. So I figured getting an official Guinness World Records title might do that,” she continued.
And we sincerely hope for the same!
So congratulations to Hope and Hannah – you are both Officially Amazing!