Want to Buy Donkey

A buddy of mine in East Texas forwarded this craigslist post:

Wanted: Spotted donkey
Date: 2007-9-1, 10:33PM
My grandparents are looking for a spotted donkey--903-762-6708...thank you very much.

I couldn't help myself. . .
on the phone, he sounded like a guy in his mid-20s who said he used to live with his grandparents but "wasn't around much anymore."

He said donkeys go for anything from $850 to $1,200, but he just missed a $50 classified sale on a juvenile donkey by a few hours the other day ("the guy was moving and getting rid of everything quick").

It seems his grandma's last of two horses recently died, and grampa is too old to care for more horses. But grandma still wants to care for something, and donkeys are smaller and don't eat as much.

"We wanted to get a spotted donkey because we thought it would be fun to look at," the guy said.

Years ago in the Farmersville Times, I saw a four-word classified that read Want to Buy Donkey, and I have seen several similar ads over the years.
"Lots of people use donkeys to herd with their sheep or chickens," the East Texan said. "They can be a little bit mean, and they run off foxes and coyotes."