Molly acted more like man’s best friend than a cantankerous old mule.
That’s why the gentle mule’s slow, violent death at the hands of man is so hard for those who knew her to accept.
“She was so sweet,” said Jenn Jehly of the 27-year-old mule. “She was actually like a dog. There wasn’t an angry bone in her body.”
On Thursday morning, someone shot Molly in the belly with a high-powered rifle and left her to bleed to death for hours in a fenced pasture 12 miles north of Woodland Park, which is in central Teller County.
On Saturday, Jehly used a metal detector to search for the bullet that felled the pack mule. Teller County Sheriff’s investigators suspect a poacher mistook Molly for an elk.
“It could be someone who gets his thrills shooting livestock,” said Gary Bieske, owner of the Pike’s Peak Resort where Molly was pastured.
Bieske is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of Molly’s killer.
“She loved people,” Jehly said. “She would cuddle with you on the ground.”
No one really claimed to own Molly, who was passed back and forth between neighbors in the tiny rural community.
“She was the traveling mule, going from family to family,” Jehly said.
Bieske would often take her on hunting and fishing trips. Molly acted liked a big affectionate dog. In camp, he would not tie her up but let her roam. She liked to follow him around.
“The funniest part of her character was she loved to lay down next to the camp fire,” Bieske said. “But she could also pack a whole elk out on her own.”
Because she would never buck, kick or bite like other mules have been known to do, people would put children on her back for pasture rides, Jehly said.
“You could hop on her back with no reins or saddle,” she said. “She would listen to you, and she would know where to go. She was definitely not your typical mule. Everybody adored her.”
On Thursday morning at 9:45 a.m., Jehly, who works at Pike’s Peak Resort, answered the phone from a neighbor who saw Molly stumbling apparently in pain in a pasture near the bed and breakfast.
Jehly drove to the pasture and ran into the field.
“As soon as she turned I could see she was totally bloody on the side,” Jehly said. “She pushed her muzzle forward and you could see her nostrils flare and she screamed like she was telling me to get over here now. I never ever will forget the sound she made.”
When Jehly reached the animal, Molly fell to the ground on her side. Jehly sat next to her and talked to her, telling her everything was going to be okay. The mule gazed up at her as if to say thank you and goodbye, Jehly said.
“She was looking right at me when she had a seizure and died right in front of me,” Jehly said. “It was like she was waiting for someone to come because she didn’t want to die on her own. It was the most horrible thing.”
Jehly and another resort employee searched the field for signs of what may have caused the injury. They found a pool of blood near Painted Rocks Road. At first it appeared a mountain lion may have attacked Molly, but when they rolled her on her side they found a bullet wound.
It appears someone drove by, saw Molly lying down in the pasture and fired a shot.
“It was pretty brazen to do it so close to several homes,” Bieske said.
He buried her in the same pasture.
“She was one of a kind.”
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
