Dolly Parton has plenty of songs about animals in her expansive catalog.
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Parton has also about sparrows ("Little Sparrow"), eagles ("Eagle When She Flies"), farm animals ("My Tennessee Mountain Home"), and dogs (the heartbreaking "Cracker Jack").
One of her signature numbers is "Love Is Like a Butterfly." In fact, the winged insect has been a symbol of everything from her amusement park, Dollywood, to her numerous other business ventures. Everything from her wine line to her makeup brand features a butterfly.
"Butterflies are my symbol," she said in 2016. "As a child, I used to get lost chasing them and got my butt whipped for wandering too far off. So we have butterflies everywhere. We have some of my sayings — 'Dolly-isms' — in different places. There's a whole layout of my album covers. It's in good taste. There's a fine line between taste and gaudy."
However, Parton has never written about donkeys. Maybe that's why this next story seems so unusual. A miniature donkey named for the "Jolene" singer went missing earlier this week.
And while we would never associate Parton with a tiny ass, we found the search for the four-legged beast of burden too good not to share. We have the details below.
Why'd You Go Out There Lookin' Like That?
In the southeastern Michigan community of Holly Township, state troopers were dispatched to a home where Dolly Parton, the miniature donkey, stepped out of her pasture thanks to an open gate.
Officers then looked everywhere for the missing animal. Thankfully, the tiny burro was found strolling along a roadway about a mile away from her home. She was unharmed, and her owners were able to pick her up.
Just like the butterflies Parton used to chase, the donkey just got lost in her search for freedom.
"Troopers assigned to northern Oakland County often find themselves dispatched to locate missing animals in the area," said F/Lt. Mike Shaw. "We have located Potato, the lost dog, cows along I-75 and now Dolly the miniature donkey. When you join the Michigan State Police, you just don't know where the day will take you!"
