How Sweet It Is: Sugar the Burro Gives Birth

Sugar, the beloved burro who was rescued from the wild through a federal program and adopted by Centennial Farm at the Orange County Fairgrounds, gave birth Friday to a fuzzy white foal.

Already able to stand on shaky legs, the newborn nestled with her mother, delighting school children visiting the farm.

“I think she cares about the baby,” said Shelby Jones, 5, of Anaheim. “They were cute.”

Janet Kim, 5, of Westminster added: “It’s pretty, it’s like a lamb.”

Four-year-old Sugar allowed visitors to peer into her pen but stood protectively. The foal mostly slept in a pile of sawdust but occasionally opened her eyes, stood and nursed, which it will do for the next several months.

Though Cube and Salt were suggested, the newborn does not have a name. She is the first burro born at the farm.

Sugar was acquired through the federal Bureau of Land Management, which rounds up wild horses and burros on federal lands to prevent overpopulation. Adoptive homes are sought.

When Sugar was adopted in 1995, she was with a malformed foal that later died. Eleven months ago, she was bred with a spotted burro in Hemet named Happy Jack.

Farm staff members and volunteers missed the birth.

“She did it without our help,” said Beverly Langston, 65, of Newport Beach, who arranged Sugar’s adoption after watching a television show on the program.

Mother and daughter appeared in good health and a veterinarian examination was not necessary, Langston said.

The burro wasn’t the only birth keeping farm hands busy Friday. A pig was in labor in too.