How a BC Ferries crew used social media to find the owner of ‘Churro’ the stuffed donkey

A BC Ferries crew member holds "Churro the Burro" during a sailing.

For five days, “Churro the Burro” has been on a maritime adventure aboard the Salish Raven, the BC Ferries vessel that runs between Swartz Bay and the southern Gulf Islands.

“He was left on board on Thursday,” said Alison Scott, the ship’s chief steward. “One of my crew members brought him to the office, and of course we make announcements, but we didn’t find anyone.”

So the crew posted about the bright pink stuffed donkey on BC Ferries’ social media channels.

“It just blew up from there. It was amazing,” said Scott.

The posts have been viewed more than 1.8 million times. The name Churro the Burro came from the comment section, where users loved the crew’s photos of the little guy’s onboard exploits.

“He went all over the ship, we didn’t leave him out of anything. We took him into the crew mess, we took him into the engine control room, we took him to the bridge. He sat in the captain’s chair, of course. He had a good look out from the bridge, watching for his owner while we searched for him,” said Scott, who added Churro even got an official BC Ferries photo ID lanyard.

While the crew had fun showing Churro around the ship, the real goal was to find his owner.

“We have so many things that are left daily on board. But we do try to reunite people with as much as we can and as quickly as we can, and especially these cherished little stuffies for the little kids,” said Scott.

“When we did find the owner, we wanted to be able to show them how much fun Churro had on board, and that he wasn’t sad while he was away from his owner,” she said.

Thanks to the power of social media, on Monday, a Victoria family reached out to BC Ferries.

“So the little boy who owns Churro is called Alfie. He’s five years old, and his Nana came back from Mexico with Churro for Alfie and another unicorn for his sister Ronan,” said Scott.

On Wednesday, the family will be welcomed on board the Salish Raven to be reunited with Churro.

“Alfie and his sister and his mom will be getting a tour of the vessel as well. So we’ll take them around and show them all the same places that Churro got to see,” said Scott.

As for bright pink the seafaring stuffed donkey, Scott says the crew will miss Churro, but “He’s very excited to be reunited.”