Our Mission

To transform the quality of life for donkeys, mules and people worldwide through greater understanding, collaboration and support, and by promoting lasting, mutually life-enhancing relationships.

Moving forward as one

During the last 30 years, The Donkey Sanctuary Ireland has provided a home and safe haven to over 5,000 donkeys and mules and touched the lives of countless people. The belief of our phenomenal founder Dr Elisabeth Svensden coupled with the determination and passion of The Donkey Sanctuary Ireland founder Paddy Barrett has paved the way for a better standard of living for donkeys and mules in Ireland.

Moving forward we aim to improve the lives of both donkeys and people through positive human donkey interactions. We will continue to build on our Donkey Assisted Therapy facility in Liscarroll, at present we can offer grooming sessions with the donkeys to people with additional needs but we hope to develop on the service that we can offer going forward. We will also endeavor to place donkeys in schools, nursing homes, rehabilitation centres and other institutions as part of the rehoming scheme: and to strengthen ties with the families of those we help.

Rescuing and rehoming donkeys is also on top of our priority list and we aim to never turn away from donkeys and mules in need, and provide lifelong care for them. We are very proud that we have over 400 donkeys rehomed throughout the country and we hope to continue to find loving homes for our donkeys throughout the country in order to make more space for neglected donkeys to come in to the Sanctuary.

There is a great deal of work done and a lot more to do. We have strategic plans in place to overcome the tasks that lie ahead in relation to large volumes of donkeys that need Sanctuary. We will pursue this goal with your support and loyalty at the backbone of the operation. We apply our core values of compassion, collaboration and creativity to everything that we do and these fundamentals have lead us to be a leading pillar in the animal welfare scene in Ireland and internationally.

Our vision

A world where donkeys and mules live free from suffering, and their contribution to humanity is fully valued.

Our values

Compassion, collaboration and creativity are The Donkey Sanctuary values. They are the key to our journey as they represent what we stand for and what we measure ourselves against.

Compassion

The Donkey Sanctuary is above all else compassionate. We never turn away from a donkey in need. Donkeys and the people who rely on them for their livelihoods or to help them cope with physical, mental and emotional challenges, lie at the heart of everything we do. We act as a global driving force for caring, both for suffering donkeys and mules, and for all those people whose lives they touch - generating understanding, compassion and support all over the world.

Collaboration

The Donkey Sanctuary is collaborative in all its activities, working through a worldwide network of partner organisations, communities and individuals. We work inclusively with people frequently marginalised within their own countries and communities, whether due to poverty, ignorance, race, gender or disabilities. We treat every interaction as a two-way opportunity to learn and to teach. We know that it is only together that we can help donkey owners and carers become donkey welfare ambassadors wherever they live and work.

Creativity

The Donkey Sanctuary’s goals are ambitious, but its resources are finite – which means that we must exercise creativity to meet the ambitious goals we set ourselves. Whether this be in adapting locally available materials for donkey-friendly harness across projects that span four different continents, in developing donkey assisted therapy activities tailored to the unique challenges of a child with additional needs, or reaching donkey owning communities in the midst of man-made or natural disasters - creative thinking underpins everything we do.