Orphaned by war, wild donkeys make a comeback in Cyprus

Left behind by technology and cast aside during war, feral donkeys are munching their way to a revival on a remote peninsula in northeast Cyprus - and they are impossible to miss.

Dotting hills and sand dunes and blocking country roads along the sparsely populated Karpass panhandle, the donkeys have thrived in the more than four decades since war split Cyprus in two, forcing huge population shifts and leaving them to their fend for themselves.

Experts estimate there must be about 2,000 today, from 800-900 during a previous field study in 2003, covering an area of 132 sq km (51 square miles). "They used to be domestic donkeys, and then they were abandoned," said Tugberk Emirzade, a biologist and wilderness guide who took part in the last field survey.

This easternmost point of the island is a focal point for pilgrims among the island's Greek and Turkish Cypriot...