The Saline County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the theft of two quite young donkeys from a pasture southwest of Salina.

The theft occurred sometime between 5 p.m. Monday and noon Tuesday in the 2300 block of West Farrelly Road, Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan said Wednesday. James Brown, 66, of Salina, reported that a two-week-old female donkey and a four-week-old male donkey were stolen from a pasture where he keeps horses and donkeys, Soldan said.

The gate on the pasture appeared to be tampered with, Soldan said. A piece of sheet metal that had been in the pasture had been moved, and Brown speculated that whoever took the donkeys used the sheet metal to herd the donkeys and separate them from their mother, Soldan added.

A search of the pasture did not turn up the donkeys, Soldan said.

The donkeys were brown in color and each valued at $100, he said.