Doris and Atumi
Doris. |
Newsletter No. 14 Autumn 1999 Late in April we were made a gift of an elderly dark brown donkey mare in very poor condition, Kelly, as she became known, almost certainly owes her life to the kindness of one woman who organised the necessary funds in the neighbourhood to buy her from an uncaring owner and arranged for her to be brought into the Sanctuary. Kelly had been worked for many years pulling heavy loads of various commodities through the harsh coastal terrain of north Sligo, wintering out without shelter or supplementary feeding until she was as thin as a hat rack and covered with rain scald sores and lice infestation. When we went to collect her she was so stiff and sore she seemed barely able to graze and stood holding up first one front leg, then the other. On arrival at the Sanctuary she was given a warm feed and bedded in a dry stable with deep straw. She slept almost constantly for two weeks. Now at the end of the summer she is back to her proper weight, glossy coated and healthy but still a little shy of strangers and easily upset by loud noises or anyone holding a brush, shovel, stick or similar. Her hooves, which had been incorrectly pared far too close, gave her great pain for a number of weeks but have now grown sufficiently to be properly balanced by our farrier so she is comfortable at last. When visitors come Kelly tends to stay in the background unnoticed though she is gaining confidence and anyone prepared to give her affection is rewarded by her gentleness. This summer saw a spate of voluntary relinquishments - mostly elderly donkeys who's owners had died, gone into care or, after last winter, simply realised their animals needed more care, shelter and feeding than they were able to provide on farms already pushed to the limit to feed cattle, sheep and horses. New Recruits The month of May saw five new arrivals. First was Toffee, a small, elderly chestnut mare. Although otherwise in good condition, Toffee's hooves had been sawn rather than trimmed and taken too close for comfort, so it was no surprise to find that when it came to touching her legs and feet there was a resounding "No" from Toffee who buck-kicked, reared and bit in a vicious attempt to protect herself from what she was sure was to be another painful and frightening experience. It took many weeks of patient work with her before she realised we meant her no harm. She is a very curious little donkey, always wanting to meet people and to know what's going on, an advantageous character trait as each kind new person she met helped her to gain confidence. You could almost see her keeping a mental notebook of "Ok folks". Next came Edward Velvet Lugs, an absolute dear of a donkey. Edward is a tall, skinny type of donkey in his late twenties, with an unusual cream coloured shaggy coat and enormous fluffy ears from which he gained his title. He had been a working donkey and an essential part of the farm for rnany years until his master died. Although he had always had the company of cattle or horses Edward was delighted to meet more donkeys and integrated with the herd very quickly. He likes tit-bits, especially bananas, but otherwise much prefers his own kind to people. In mid-May Doris arrived when for personal reasons her owners felt they could not give her a proper life, Doris was supposedly " expecting" with a foaling date of around St. Patrick's Day. Although undeniably rotund we were not convinced she was that close to foaling, if in deed she was to have a foal at all, and we watched her progress with fascination throughout the summer. Even our vets remained inconclusive about her pregnancy as a donkey mare is able to "hide" a foal most successfully and can carry for anything from nine months to fourteen and a half months. Twice Doris fooled us by "bagging up", only to reduce to normal within a couple of days. Then at last, in the early hours of 28th August, Doris produced a fine, healthy jack foal who is almost pure white apart from a smudgy brown blanket over his rump and some soft grey in his mane. We have called him Atumi and his antics are guaranteed to brighten the greyest of days. |
Enquiries to: Sue Paling, Sathya Sai Sanctuary Trust for Nature, Cloghogue Lower, Castlebaldwin, Co Sligo, Ireland. Frontpage | All the donkeys | Spring 1994 | Autumn 1994 | Spring 1995 | Autumn 1995 | Autumn 1996 | Spring 1997 | Autumn 1997 | Spring 1998 | Autumn 1998 | Spring 1999 | Autumn 1999 | Spring 2000 | Autumn 2000 | Spring 2001 | Autumn 2001 | Spring 2002 | Autumn 2002 | Adopt a Donkey | Donkey Links | E mail
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