Eccentric mule dies after decades living among wild horses on Outer Banks, NC fund says

An irascible mule that spent much of his life convinced he was a horse has died after two decades of wandering North Carolina’s Outer Banks, according to the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.

Raymond, as he was known, was at a retirement farm when a veterinarian made the tough decision to end suffering brought on by a hernia, fund officials said in a Wednesday, Nov. 6, Facebook post. He was believed to be in his late 20s when he died Oct. 30.

“He was also known by locals as Jack, Rebel, Burrito, and probably a few other choice nicknames over the years,” herd manager Meg Puckett wrote.

“Raymond spent most of his life in the wild and lived just like the horses. He had a harem of mares, raised foals ... and fought other stallions for territory. He had a reputation for being fierce, and most of the stallions gave him a wide berth.”

Raymond was sterile as a hybrid, so none of the foals he raised were his, Puckett says.

He was the offspring of a wild mare and a donkey, which means Raymond didn’t have a lot of the adaptations that allow feral horses to survive on the barrier islands, she said.

This included hooves that would grow to deformed lengths, rendering Raymond unable to walk until they snapped off.

Multiple interventions were staged to trap Raymond and saw down his hooves, but they’d grow back, Puckett says. The condition led him to be taken to a retirement farm operated by the nonprofit fund, which protects and tends to about 100 wild “Banker” horses.

“He settled right in and figured out how to wrap us around his hooves, and for the next five years our lives would revolve around him. We were able to correct many of the issues with his hooves and keep him sound and comfortable,” Puckett said.

“We built him his own pasture where he didn’t have to worry about other horses challenging him (turns out he really wasn’t all that fierce, he was just very defensive) and we did our best to accommodate and indulge in all of his many quirks and idiosyncrasies.”

The story of a mule that imagined itself to be a stallion eventually spread on social media, resulting in Raymond reaching celebrity status in some circles. He was featured on Christmas ornaments, posters and stickers over the years, Puckett says.

The decision to euthanize Raymond came after he was diagnosed with “a small scrotal hernia that occluded the affected loops of his small intestine.“

He died as the last-known offspring of domestic stock and wild horses, which occurred when donkeys escaped farms that have long since vanished from the Outer Banks.

That made Raymond a piece of Outer Banks history.

“Quality of life was the most important part of his care plan, and he was definitely a very happy mule right up to the moment he passed away. It doesn’t make the loss any easier or less heartbreaking,” Puckett said.

“Finding the words that fully encapsulate Raymond’s extraordinary life and his place in our history is proving to be quite difficult. There will never be another one like him, and his death is the end of an era. He is the closing chapter on a way of life that does not exist here anymore. He was everything a Banker is supposed to be — resilient, adaptable, smart. He was truly the salt of the earth.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 8:10 AM with the headline "Eccentric mule dies after decades living among wild horses on Outer Banks, NC fund says."