Jack the donkey and Diane the emu first fell in love on an abandoned farm in South Carolina before finding their forever home, together, with The Walking Dead actor, Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Morgan and his wife — former One Tree Hill actress, Hilarie Burton — adopted the pair and brought them up to their Hudson Valley, New York home after hearing about their cross-species love via the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, The Guardian reported.
The rescue assumes that the unlikely pair bonded over mutual loneliness after being abandoned by the farm and were likely a comfort to one another.
At first, rescuers tried to separate the duo and place them with their own kind — the sanctuary is also home to three other donkeys and an additional emu. But the distance was so distressing to both Jack and Diane that each animal would cry and pace incessantly while apart.
“Then we put them in the same enclosure together, and they calmed down,” the organization’s office manager, Julie Brown, said.
The couple is also quite protective of one another and shows bizarre signs of attachment, the sanctuary noted in an Instagram post. Jack once attacked another donkey that got too close to Diane and the emu frequently makes a “drumming” sound when Jack is near — a sign that she considers him her mate.
Hey there… read the story… if you are looking for a forever home for jack and diane? Happy to take them, and keep them together at our farm. They would be a welcome addition to our menagerie of happy creatures. Xojd
— Jeffrey Dean Morgan (@JDMorgan) November 11, 2018
The pair’s love story made the rounds on social media and quickly went viral before attracting the attention of Morgan and Burton. The couple owns a farm with cows and alpacas, other donkeys and now, Jack and Diane.
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