GET YOUR ASS BACK HOME:    Crocodylus Park attendant Lisa Robertson gives the donkeys a feed of bread after they were freed and ran wild on the streets in Darwin’s northern suburbs.         Picture: NICK WELSH

REBEKAH CAVANAGH    January 7th, 2009  from The Northern Territory News, Australia

TWO donkeys were on the loose in Darwin’s northern suburbs yesterday after thieves broke in to a popular tourist park and released them.   The hooligans used boltcutters to get through three padlocked gates to Crocodylus Park in the early hours and set the donkeys free before stealing two company four-wheel-drives.

Their crime was only detected when police found the donkeys on the roadside at the corner of McMillans Rd and Amy Johnson Avenue in Marrara – about 500m from the park – about 4am.  Police called Crocodylus Park owners Grahame and Giovanna Webb to ask if they were missing some mules. The pair got out of bed straight away to help catch them.Mr Webb said the donkeys were “having a great old time” roaming the streets and took some convincing to lure back to the park.

He said they would not budge with a rope around them, so they had to entice them to walk with loaves of bread all the way back to the park.  At one point, one of the staff was pulled over and dragged along when one of the donkeys was spooked and tried to bolt.

He said the asses, which have been residents at the park for about 10 years, were not injured in the ordeal. But he said it was an inconvenience having two company vehicles nicked.

Yeah sure… but lucky the crocs didn’t get out!