A real-life donkey who served as the animation model for the character Donkey in the “Shrek” franchise died on Thursday at the age of 30 at his home in California. Pericles, affectionately ...

By Sara Ruberg Perry, a miniature donkey whose handlers said he was used by DreamWorks animators as a model for the chatty “Shrek” character named Donkey, died last week at the age of 30.

Perry, a playful and feisty miniature donkey, was euthanized at age 30 on Jan. 2 after a long battle with laminitis, a painful hoof disease, according to Jenny Kiratli, a volunteer at Bol Park in ...