I Adopted a Donkey!!!

She’s been turned out on her own and stumbled into a bog. A bog! And she’d sunk up to her armpits in mud when she was discovered there and rescued. She was treated for hypothermia and brought to the Donkey Sanctuary not far from Cork.

And boy does she have companions. She is there with more than a hundred other donkeys abandoned or disowned for one reason or another. They are cared for, they have their own veterinarian and they have shelter. You see a donkey’s fur is not waterproof like a sheep so they need shelter. At the sanctuary they get everything they need, including blankets that work as raincoats when they need them.

Established in Ireland in 2011, they actually have four farms around Ireland for housing donkeys. And every one of them has a story. Bocelli was born blind; Lorcan was chased into an electric fence and his ears were damaged, etc. At the sanctuary you can hug them and pet them and, like me, you can adopt them. It’s really more of a sponsorship to help with a year of their care.

They have a wall of donkeys you can adopt, you get a picture and a keychain and the satisfactory of knowing you’re helping out. Oh, and all the hugs you have the energy for once you find your donkey and say hi.

If you have an acre of land you can take two donkeys with you and take care of them on your own, but my landlord at the wee house won’t let me have a cat, so I will have to travel to visit her instead.

But that’s okay. Not only will I do that, I will make sure she gets a raincoat of her own. And I offered to buy her Wellies…four of them…if need be.

You can learn more about the Donkey Sanctuary in this episode of my podcast.

And you can learn even more than that about the Donkey Sanctuary at www.thedonkeysanctuary.ie