A statue of Brighty the Burro at Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim on May 19, 2012. (Taylor Bennett via Flickr CC 2.0)

About two weeks ago, one of the most destructive wildfires in National Park history forced hundreds of Grand Canyon staff members and visitors to evacuate the North Rim and destroyed dozens of buildings, including the park's historic lodge. As the public mourns those storied structures, many visitors with fond memories of the park have been asking about the fate of one iconic piece of Grand Canyon memorabilia in particular: Brighty the Burro.

Adored by people of all ages, Brighty - the bronze reincarnation of a real-life donkey that once lived in the canyon - greeted guests at the Grand Canyon Lodge for nearly six decades. Families dipped into the lodge's Sun Room to take photos with the statue and learn about its inspiration from plaques on the wall; hikers rubbed Brighty's nose for good luck before setting out on rim-to-rim adventures. If the North Rim had a mascot, it was Brighty.

So it's no surprise that when the Dragon Bravo Fire overtook the Grand Canyon Lodge - and staff were forced to evacuate in mere minutes - some people grew anxious about the statue's welfare and assumed the worst.

"The loss of the Brighty statue is somehow the worst thing for me, today," one Reddit user commented below a picture of the blazing lodge on July 13. "The view will always be there, eternally, for anyone standing at that spot. But lil' Brighty, he gave so much, and now his memorial is even gone."

A view of the front entrance to the Grand Canyon Lodge, which was destroyed by the Dragon Bravo Fire, in Arizona on July 18, 2025. (NPS/Matt Jenkins)

That memorial was a loving nod to the real Brighty, who lived at the canyon between the 1880s and 1920s. As the 100-year-old Arizona Highways magazine tells it, the burro was first identified by two cowboys near the Colorado River's edge. Months later, one of the cowboys returned to the area and met Brighty again. This time, Brighty followed the cowboy back to the rim, kicking off a yearslong relationship that occasionally involved the donkey being "pressed into service hauling loads for prospectors."

Over time, children came to know Brighty - named for Bright Angel Creek - as a gentle creature who tolerated occasional rides. The donkey carried water out of the canyon, hauled the occasional supply load during the construction of an early Grand Canyon suspension bridge and may have even met President Theodore Roosevelt, who played a key role in the park's establishment. Nourished by prospectors' flapjacks and a lifestyle that was neither wild nor captive, Brighty was a Grand Canyon mainstay until 1922, when he met his tragic end: Trapped in a snowstorm, two men killed the beloved donkey for food.

In the early 1950s, Brighty's story inspired children's author Marguerite Henry to write a fictionalized version of his life titled "Brighty of the Grand Canyon," in which he befriends an old prospector. (Don't worry: The book makes no mention of the donkey's brutal death.) The following decade, the book was adapted for film. To promote the movie, producer Stephen Booth hired the sculptor Peter Jensen to cast Brighty's likeness in bronze, then donated it to the park service.

The 600-pound statue of Brighty welcomed visitors to the Grand Canyon's South Rim Visitor Center for about a decade before becoming the unexpected focal point of controversy. While the public largely saw burros as an integral part of the southwestern landscape, the park service (or director Stephen Mather, in particular) perceived the species as a nuisance. The canyon's burro population had boomed over the first two decades of the 20th century, unmitigated by the coyotes, mountain lions and bobcats that had been killed off in an effort to bolster deer and bighorn numbers. Now, the stubborn equines were eating the very grasses those ungulates relied on, as well as contributing to the canyon's erosion.

A statue of Brighty the Burro at the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim in Arizona on Oct. 16, 2009. (NPS/Michael Quinn)

The park service stuffed Brighty's likeness into storage as it addressed the growing burro population with annual burro hunts and relocations. Eventually, an educational display about the donkeys' impacts on the environment took the statue's place. But those who loved the species advocated on Brighty's behalf, and in 1980, the park service switched to transporting pesky burros out of the canyon via aircraft and pontoon boats. Once 577 of the animals had been relocated, the bronze version of Brighty the Burro was made public-facing once again - this time, at the Grand Canyon Lodge.

This is how Brighty posthumously became a symbol of resilience, particularly for those who love the Grand Canyon for what it is, not what it could be. It follows, then, that the potential loss of Brighty's likeness would dispirit those who resonate with what he represents.

But Brighty's story might not be over. In a Facebook post published July 16, the Grand Canyon Historical Society shared a photo of what appeared to be brass chunks lying in ash and rubble.

"This is believed to be Brighty, who did experience some significant damage," the post read. "Note: the angle of the photo is poor, from his underside. The hole was already there, where he was attached to the pedestal. Most of his body looks intact but with legs broken off (You can see one on the bottom left). His face is fine."

A representative for the historical society declined to share who had taken the photo, but Joëlle Baird, a spokesperson for Grand Canyon National Park, verified the image's legitimacy.

"From reports we received from the field, the Brighty statue did survive the fire at the Grand Canyon Lodge, however, it is heavily damaged with two front legs and an ear missing," Baird wrote in an email to SFGATE.

It's unclear so far what will be done with Brighty's brass remains, but fans on social media are already advocating for the statue's restoration.

"I'm deeply saddened to learn of the damage sustained by the beloved bronze statue of Brighty - the faithful little burro who stood for decades at the North Rim, welcoming thousands of visitors each year in what many considered the most beautiful room in the Grand Canyon," wrote Nate Loper, a longtime Grand Canyon tour guide, in a Facebook post. "Though Brighty now bears the marks of fire, he is not gone. He remains - scarred, but not defeated. And in that, he becomes even more symbolic."

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