In January 1997 thirteen donkeys were rescued from appalling conditions in Co Wexford. Many of the mares in this group were in foal when they came in and subsequently gave birth here at The Sanctuary.
Lorraine gave birth to Jacinta one of our adoption donkeys and Tiffany, who we featured on our website recently, gave birth to Noelie and are now in a new foster home in Co Mayo.
We’ve decided to give you an update on Tiffany and Noelie who travelled to their new home in Co Mayo earlier this year. Their new foster mom Margaret sends us regular updates and we are very grateful to her for this.
She tells us that they have become real pets however Tiffany is still a little shy with strangers and Noelie is very protective of her.
They live in a lovely paddock adjacent to Margaret’s home and after a shaky start with Rusty the dog they are now good friends.
This year we have seen a massive increase in abandoned donkeys throughout the country. Some of these donkeys are fit and healthy but due to the economic situation have been left in fields and on the side of the road to fend for themselves. Others are in terrible condition with overgrown hooves, matted coats, skin conditions and sarcoids.
61 donkeys came into our Isolation Unit this week... some of them coming from very sad situations where their owners loved them but for various reasons could not look after them any more.
Tiffany and Noelie left this week for their new home in Westport, Co Mayo. There was a lot of work involved in getting these two ready for foster. First they had to be medically fit to make sure they were in tip top shape for their journey. Then our grooms and quality time volunteers worked tirelessly on them to make sure they would be social and easy to handle for their new fosterers - last minute checks are always taken to make sure all is well.
Three young foals called Tai, Jai and Kai came into our care last November along with another young foal after their owner tried to sell them at a fair in Co Galway. As the owner failed to sell them, a concerned donkey owner bought the foals because of the condition they were in. Since he was not in a position to keep the foals, he immediately contacted The Donkey Sanctuary and our Welfare team made arrangements for the foals to be collected.
