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| Jessie James |
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| We are finally safe, loved and protected. |
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My treasures do not clink together nor glitter. They gleam in the sun and bray in the night.
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Above Left: Notice the black cross on this donkey. Legend has it that the cross on the donkey’s shoulders comes from the shadow of Christ’s crucifixion, placing the donkey at the foot of the cross.
This donkey's ears had frozen and broken off at the tips when we found her. They are short and ragged at the ends and she is very sensitive to anyone touching them. Most donkeys will do anything to have their ears rubbed but this girl is wary of anyone coming too close to her ears.
Above Right: This donkey came to live with us in 2004. She had been badly beaten and was close to death. The person who had so mercilessly abused this sweet girl was only 15 years old. This donkey needed a lot of time and attention to nurse her back to health. Every little sound made her jump, any movement was traumatic. We allowed her to roam free in the corral or pasture area and made no demands on her. She had come to us without a name and David promptly named her Wendy after his favorite Bruce Springstein song.
Every morning we could come out to feed the donkeys and every day Wendy would look at us as if she had never seen us before. Day after day, month after month this went on. We could not catch her because she was scared to have anyone close to her.We needed to get her hooves worked on and finally found a farrier with lots and lots of patience. We finally caught Wendy after about 5 hours of gentle persuasion and we were able to get her feet worked on.
While we had her in the inner corral we tried to talk with her and rub her down but she was frantic to be away from human contact and we let her be.
For over a year we worked with Wendy, trying to get her to respond to kindness and love but every day we had to start anew, gaining her trust one iota at a time.
Wendy was affecting the other donkeys with her obsessve behavior and skittish personality. She was the largest donkey we had at the time and was very hard on some of the smaller ones but continued trying to work with her, hoping she would calm down and join the others. She was also an escape artist and would find a way out of the fence on occasion. You can not believe how hard it is to catch a donkey who is afraid of people, noises, cars, and anything that moves. It would take many, many hours of running behind her on foot to finally lasso her and walk her home, often 5 or more miles.
One day some people came to visit the donkeys and the young man fell in love with Wendy. He was a ferrier by trade and his Mother had always wanted a donkey. They came back again and again just to be with her and to talk with her. On the day she actually walked up to them they asked if they could adopt her. They had many horses and a large working farm but they wanted Wendy for a pet. They adopted Wendy and with time and love, and I think being the only donkey, she became an integral part of their family. A happy ending to a very sad story.
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Donkeys can live up to 40 years.
Caring for one is a lifetime commitment.
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We care for starved, abused, injured donkeys and even very old donkeys. We are dedicated to helping needy longears enjoy a healthy, happy life. We may be small but we provide a donkey friendly environment for them at all times. We have helped rescue donkeys from appalling conditions where they have suffered abusive and inhumane treatment. We rely solely on donations from the animal-loving public and we are grateful for any support we receive. Without the help of caring people we would not be able to function and many of these donkeys would still be suffering in silence. It is vital that we continue with this most necessary work. Without your help, what would become of these gentle little donkeys. We feel privileged to do this work but we cannot do it alone; we can only make this possible with your financial help.
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| Please help us to continue our work rescuing and caring for donkeys like these two sweet longears. |
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We could not care for the donkeys that we rescue and care for without your generosity. Please help us to continue our work by donating online.
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| Learning to trust again |
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| A New Arrival |
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| | Center Left: This donkey has fresh, bloody wounds on his nose from the previous owners. He arrived a few days before this photo was taken. He so wanted to be loved and cared about and he took to my husband right away. Here you see him holding on to David's shirt, a sign of affection from donkeys. Four years later, he still takes David's shirt or jacket gently in his teeth and follows him about.
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Top Left: This donkey had been left tied up tightly to a tree in the hot summer sun when we found him. He was thin and his coat was rough. He was our very first donkey.
Middle Left: We were appalled when we found this donkey as her hooves had grown so long that they had curled up and over on the ends and were agonizingly painful for her to walk on. Her coat was dry and brittle and falling out in places from malnutrition. The people had been feeding her generic dog kibble.
Lower Left: Do you have a treat for me?
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| Donkeys Love Watermelon |
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| Sharing a Watermelon Snack |
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Have you ever wondered why people are so negative about donkeys? How many times have you heard comments like:
"Donkeys are stubborn"! or they laugh and say, "A donkey, what use is a stupid donkey?" or, "Donkeys are ugly and have a mean streak"! These are just some of the mindless comments, which unfortunately, far too often sprout forth from those who generally know nothing about donkeys.
These people may have had a bad experience with an untrained, unhandled or mishandled donkey or, maybe a well-trained donkey simply outsmarted them! They then see fit to justify their failure(s) by condemning all donkeys when it's really they themselves who were the problem. Even worse, those listening assume this person knows all about donkeys and take him at his word. The result is bad publicity passed on and on down the line.
If donkeys were any of the above, (stubborn, nasty etc), how then have millions of donkeys all over the world been beasts of burden for many centuries, willingly and faithfully serving the human race all that time and up to the present time?
Donkeys were the first domesticated animal and have been the most useful and reliable animal on earth doing more to help humans than any other animal.
Those of us who know and love donkeys and who have handled many donkeys with varied temperaments, problems and backgrounds know otherwise.
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Donkeys come in all shapes, sizes, colors and coat texture. The most common coat color is grey, followed by brown and then black, roan and multi-colored donkeys. The rarest color is pure white.
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| The Original Donkey Whisperer |
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Basic Donkey Essentials
Donkeys' requirements are simple and are easy to provide. Donkeys graze but they are mainly browsers and require suitable donkey food comprised of clean medium grade hay and/or meadow hay and an equine calcium, mineral, salt lick. Any other feeding will depend on the age, size and/or condition of the donkey, and the amount of work the donkey is expected to do. (Our donkeys do not work)
Donkeys must have shelter. A simple shed will suffice, safe tight fencing in good repair and a good clean water supply.
They must be de-wormed every 8 to 12 weeks.
Donkeys' feet require trimming every 6 to 12 weeks and require a competent farrier
Donkeys teeth must have their teeth attended to annually by a qualified equine dentist
Above all they need a loving owner who will care for them, brush them when necessary and be kind to them.
This is not much to supply an animal, which will provide you with so much in return.
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| Donkeys Love to Go for a Walk! |
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Lawn Mowers!
Donkeys ARE NOT and should not be regarded as lawn mowers. This can sour a lovely donkey making him temperamental, irritable, unpredictable, lonely or nervous. Donkeys are smart and require company and mental stimulation. When donkeys are restricted to a small area or are kept tethered with no company, the donkey can become depressed, neurotic or sick, reacting unpredictably or even aggressively out of frustration. This is solely the fault of the human due to his lack of understanding of donkeys' requirements and proper care. All animals react to their handling and environment.
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| Don't Kill your Donkey with Kindness
To keep a donkey healthy and happy NEVER feed dangerous foods (bread, cakes, biscuits, wheat, sugar, dairy products, chicken feed or lawn clippings among others). These can cause big problems for donkeys and can even result in painful death.
All donkeys must first be educated, then trained to do the work required of them. The donkey will not automatically know what is expected of it. Training is absolutely necessary and not difficult if done correctly. If however ,you are inexperienced and don't know how to correctly train a donkey, don't try, get advice first. You can do more damage than good by teaching the animal all the wrong things.
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| Happy Holidays from Joey and me! |
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A healthy donkey needs the companionship of at least one other donkey.
Donkeys are very social animals and need at least one other donkey friend.
Donkeys have an incomparable ability for rehabilitation and affection.
Donkeys love to be brushed, hugged and fussed over.
No donkey should be bred until all existing donkeys have homes.
We must all be part of the solution to pet overpopulation.
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Contentment
Is not the fulfillment
Of what you want,
But the realization
Of how much
You already have.
Anonymous
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