It is with deep sorrow that international animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary, and its sister charity the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys, today announces the death of its founder, Dr Elisabeth Svendsen MBE.

Dr Svendsen founded the charity in 1969 out of her deep love and compassion for abused, neglected and abandoned donkeys everywhere, after finding seven donkeys in a terribly poor state crammed in a small pen at Exeter market. She tried to buy the donkey in the worst condition, without success, and from that moment on, decided that she would dedicate her life to saving donkeys in distress.

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Since that day over 40 years ago, through her tireless devotion and endeavour, The Donkey Sanctuary has given over 14,500 donkeys and mules in need lifelong care and love in UK, Ireland and mainland Europe. Dr Svendsen’s passionate leadership also led to the development of the charity’s work overseas, helping donkeys working in desperate conditions in some of the most impoverished communities on the planet.

The County Cork site of international animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary has been inundated with more than 240 donkey rescues in the last year.

The Donkey Sanctuary, County Cork, has recently been awarded a €50,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in recognition of their animal welfare activities. This money will be used to help fund school education programmes to promote good practice in animal welfare, hopefully lessening the number of distressing animal welfare cases in the future.

This week, the Liscarroll-based Donkey Sanctuary has launched an appeal for new fosterers across Ireland to give a home to rescued donkeys.

The animal charity which is seeing record numbers of abandoned, neglected and unwanted donkeys in its care has significantly increased intake figures and has seen both of its farms fill to near capacity because of the current global economic problems.

The Donkey Sanctuary in Liscarroll is appealing for volunteers to run the Evening Echo’s Woman’s Mini Marathon in Cork, held on Sunday 27th September, to raise funds for its cause.

A free ‘donkey care’ workshop has been arranged by The Donkey Sanctuary at Knockagh View Equestrian Centre in Carrickfergus, on Saturday 31st October from 10am to 4pm for donkey owners.

At The Donkey Sanctuary, we often come across cases of neglect and Sam is no exception. At three years of age, he’s certainly not had the best start in life. Rescued by the Irish branch of our charity, Sam now has a Sanctuary for life. Here’s his story...