Bonny's Appeal

What do plastic shoes, treacle sandwiches and infra-red lamps have in common?

Surprisingly, we use them all here at The Donkey Sanctuary to make life more comfortable for our rescued donkeys. 

Donkeys just like Bonny, who came to the sanctuary in 1995 after her owners moved to a smaller property and no longer had the space for Bonny and her companions. Bonny’s caring owners decided to relinquish her into the care of The Donkey Sanctuary and she came to live at Axnoller Farm, one of our outlying farms in Dorset, where we gave her sanctuary for life.

That was 12 years ago when Bonny was 18 years old. Since then, she has enjoyed the best possible care imaginable- good pasture, warm shelter and regular, routine veterinary attention.

Now that she is getting on, Bonny needs a bit of specialist help. She needs special high fibre feed to help keep her in tiptop condition. This also helps to ensure that she does not lose weight, or put weight on as she has a particular liking for ginger nuts and freshly grated carrot!

She has been fitted with special plastic shoes to make her feet more comfortable; these need to be replaced every four weeks. In preparation for winter, her barn will be fitted with infra-red lamps; these provide a great source of warmth during cold winter nights and are a help to donkeys with arthritis and other age related conditions.

And the treacle sandwiches?

Well, how else are you going to disguise unpalatable medicine? Bonny has medicine a sandwich every day containing an anti-inflammatory tablet to help make her feet more comfortable.

Since she's been with us we estimate that Bonny has had:

• 14 flu vaccinations
• 28 check-ups from our expert vets
• 10 visits from the dentist
• 94 hoof-trimmings
• 46 pairs of plastic shoes

and Bonny has recently had 7 medicine sandwiches (with added treacle!) each week.

Plus, of course, countless hours of love and attention from our dedicated staff here at The Donkey Sanctuary.

The support that people like you give to the Sanctuary has made it possible for us to help thousands of donkeys, just like Bonny.

Each and every donkey taken into our care here in the UK is guaranteed a life of loving care and attention, so you can imagine, any donation we receive, no matter how small, makes a difference.

How your donation can help

If you feel you can help us to provide donkeys like Bonny with expert, loving care we would be very grateful.

• £1 pays for anti-inflammatory medicine sandwiches (with added treacle) for a whole week to help relieve aches and pains 
• £7 buys an infra-red heat lamp to keep elderly donkeys warm in their barns and stables
• £12 buys a pair of plastic shoes to help donkeys with thin soles or laminitic conditions
• £20 pays for extra feeds for one donkey for a whole month

Of course, we'll need to continue to provide specialist help for the thousands of donkeys in our care for donkeys' years to come. If you feel you can support us with a regular gift by banker's order, that would really help us plan for the future and help us ensure that donkeys like Bonny continue to have the best possible care.

Our administration costs are around 6p in every £1, so you can be confident that your donation will be put to good use.

On behalf of Bonny, and the 12,200 other donkeys that we have rescued over the years, we would like to thank you for your kind support.

Other payment methods

Cheques, postal orders or CAF vouchers can be sent to:

The Donkey Sanctuary (Bonny Appeal)
Sidmouth
Devon
EX10 0NU

Please make these  payable to The Donkey Sanctuary.

Contact details

By telephone:

01395 579128 (please mention our Bonny Web Appeal)

By email: