Talib is a gifted and skilled animal lover. He never saw a donkey until he came to visit Bedlam Farm last year, now he comes and asks for a brush and the donkeys love him, he brushes them lovingly and as if he had grown up with them. They stand quietly, almost purring, while he brushes two of them at once, confidently and skillfully.

He lives at the St. John’s Residence For Boys in New York City, and I asked him how it was he knew how to care so well for donkeys. His name in Arabic means “student,” he said, and he loves to learn. The donkeys loved him from the first, and they are among the best judges of character in the world.