Donkey refuge rescued 240

THE Donkey Sanctuary in Co Cork dealt with a record 240 rescues last year, including one case where 25 animals were neglected on a farm.

Noel Carton, the charity’s head of operations, went out with officials from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to investigate the situation at the unidentified farm.

“I was horrified and shocked at what I saw. It was heartbreaking to see these poor donkeys in such horrendous conditions,” Mr Carton said.

“There was nowhere clean or dry for them to stand, their hooves were painful and neglected, their coats were infested with lice, their bones were protruding through their winter coats, and there is a strong possibility that at least some of the mares are in foal. All were shut out of the shelter and left in the cold,”

He said thankfully with the support of the department they took eight of the animals to the Liscarroll sanctuary for immediate treatment.

Mr Carton said the remaining animals were being closely monitored by the charity’s welfare team. If their conditions don’t improve it is likely that they would also be brought into care in Liscarroll.

The sanctuary recently received a €50,000 grant from the department in recognition of its animal welfare activities. Mr Carton said 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.

The charity was founded in England in 1969 and it has since cared for 14,500 donkeys, of which almost 3,000 have been rescued in Ireland.

Mr Carton said the Liscarroll facility is currently experiencing record numbers of intakes and is almost at full capacity.