Zebra Painted Burros

As part of the San Diego leg of a family vacation we took a day trip to Tijuana, Mexico. I was 12 years old. Granted the list of things that I'd never seen before that day is rather long, but at least as astonishing as anything else were the zebra painted burros. There were burros on the street corners painted like zebras, & you could pay to have your photo taken with one. Well, you could if you had different parents than I had. I don't know how much it cost. It was a "tourist trap," but so is Sea World, and we did go there. So, I'm not sure what the exact reasoning was. Did they not want to contribute to the more than questionable zebra painting of burros? They paid money to see captive mammals trained to literally jump through hoops for dead fish. I've never hosted an open forum involving both a zebra painted burro & an orca held in captivity to find out what their thoughts were on living conditions, quality of life, etc. *If there are any zebra painted burros or captive orcas reading this & you'd like to have your voices heard...

Not infrequently I will bring up the idea of liberating one of these zebra painted burros. I have discussed it at length with one of my friends, Steve. (Somehow I have a lot of friends named Steve.) The burro wouldn't have to work here, but if they wouldn't mind I would super appreciate it if they'd like to come down to the beach with me & carry my chair, umbrella, etc. I don't like to carry stuff.

I've also discussed at length with the same Steve how I'd really like to find a Sherpa fed up with that harsh Himalayan climate who would like to move here & help me schlep stuff. I'd offer him a place indoors, but he would much prefer to sleep in a tent out in the fresh air. Not sure what the zebra painted burro's preference would be. The Sherpa would come with me to Trader Joe's. He'd push the cart, and fill it with boxes of Tofutti Cuties, because he loves those. He would adopt a new wardrobe for the friendlier climate- Hawaiian shirts, long shorts, Birkenstocks (with socks in the colder months,) but he'd still wear his Sherpa hat with the ear flaps- unless he was bodysurfing, of course.