Donkey King: Meet Ron King

 

 Tell me about Donkey King.

Donkey King is a docu-series airing Saturday mornings on ABC stations nationwide. It follows the team at Oscar’s Place — the donkey rescue and sanctuary I co-founded in Hopland, California — as we rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome donkeys who would otherwise end up in slaughter pipelines. We currently care for more than 220 donkeys across two ranches. The show is honest. The donkeys are extraordinary. And every week, viewers tell us it’s the most hopeful thing on television.

 

 How did you get involved with Donkey King and what is your role?

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Oscar’s Place, and I’m also the EP and on-camera lead of the show. Before any of this, I spent thirteen years in publishing as an SVP at Time Inc., overseeing brands like InStyle, Southern Living, and Essence. I left corporate media in 2020, ended up in Hopland by accident, and started rescuing donkeys. Five years later, here we are.

 

 What were some of the challenges of working on the project?

The hardest part was making sure the show stayed honest. Animal television has a long tradition of leading with crisis — the bloodier the wound, the bigger the donation. We made the opposite choice. Donkey King leads with joy, with the relationships between donkeys and the humans who love them, and with the truth that healing is possible. That’s a harder show to make. It’s also the only kind of show I was ever willing to be part of.

 

What were some of your favorite memories of working on it?

The unscripted moments. A donkey named Dorothy reuniting with her baby after they’d been separated at a Texas auction. Patches — a blind, neglected old soul — discovering he was finally safe. Viejo, the donkey I rescued personally, leaning his head into a stranger’s shoulder during a tour and refusing to let go. None of those moments could have been planned. They’re the reason the show works.

 

 What was it like working with such amazing people (and donkeys!) who wanted to help give donkeys a better life?

Humbling. The team at Oscar’s Place — the staff, the volunteers, the veterinarians — show up every day with a level of commitment that I find genuinely awe-inspiring. And the donkeys themselves are our greatest teachers. They forgive faster than humans do. They trust again, even after everything. Being around them changes you.

 

What do you hope viewers like the most about the show?

I hope they leave each episode feeling lighter than they did when they started watching. The world is heavy right now. People are exhausted. If we can offer thirty minutes a week where someone laughs, cries a little, and remembers that kindness still exists — that’s the whole point.

 

 What was the most surprising moment of working on the series?

Honestly, the response from viewers. We get letters every week from people who have watched in hospital ICU beds, during chemotherapy, after losing a parent, in the middle of divorces. They tell us the show kept them going. I never imagined a show about donkeys would do that for people. The donkeys did. We just pointed the camera at them.

 

Anything else you want to share about it?

Just that none of this would exist without the donkeys themselves. They are the most misunderstood animals in the world — gentle, intelligent, deeply emotional, and profoundly loyal. If Donkey King does one thing, I hope it’s this: it changes how people see them. They deserve every bit of the love we’re trying to give them back.