Our Ecology and Conservation team were recently joined by two groups of volunteers to help create more space for the resident donkeys at our Manchester centre.
Tackling areas of overgrown wilderness at the sanctuary in Abbey Hey, the group spent several days clearing pathways through swathes of dense bramble patches for the resident herd to explore and browse.
Steve and Pascal from our Ecology and Conservation team were joined by volunteers from retail store Pets at Home and N Brown Group, a fashion platform whose brands include JD Williams, Simply B and Jacamo.
As part of its Better World Pledge social value strategy, Pets At Home offers a volunteer programme to all of its staff. The programme reflects the company’s wider commitment to create a better world for pets and the people who love them.
All N Brown colleagues are also able to take a ‘Make a Difference Day’ once a year, which allows them to volunteer as a team within the local community for a charity or cause close to their hearts. The team decides how to spend their day, and the decided to volunteer with The Donkey Sanctuary Manchester because they wanted to spend some time outdoors helping animals.
Both organisations have their head offices based around the city, and their volunteers got to work alongside our colleagues to help improve the area for our donkeys.
The sanctuary is an oasis of green space in the heart of urban Manchester, and the work will help free up more of that space for the resident herd. This is becoming increasingly important as the herds are getting bigger at our regional centres, as more donkeys are trained for our Rehoming Scheme.
Pascal Bisson, apprentice Ecology and Conservation Officer, said: “The land here (in Manchester) has such a great balance of grassland and rough areas for the donkeys to explore, with a mixture of hawthorn and bramble which is beneficial for their enrichment.
“This work shows how our donkeys can help benefit nature too. Their browsing will help keep the level of scrub low, so that sunlight can reach the woodland floor and allow the wildflowers to bloom.”
Alongside clearing pathways through the brambles, the group helped clear rotting trees, created habitat piles to home insects and installed barriers around trees to protect them from the donkeys. By clearing the pathways, the donkeys not only have more space, but they also have access through the area to explore more browsing opportunities.
Robina Melling, Manchester Centre Manager, said: “We can’t thank the teams enough for the work they did in helping to create more space for our donkeys.“After the work was complete the herd wasted no time in exploring the areas and were clearly enjoying the extra browsing made available to them.”
Luke Buckley-Mellor, Business Intelligence Developer, from N Brown Group said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at The Donkey Sanctuary, where the opportunity to contribute to a meaningful cause was made even more rewarding by being able to share this day with my team.
“A full day working on purposeful tasks expanded my appreciation for all the work undertaken by the staff and volunteers at the sanctuary. I will be recommending this experience to fellow colleagues and friends, as it not only allows for personal growth, but also increases the spirit of giving back to the community. It was nice to be able to spend time with the donkeys at the end of the day too.”
Magdalena Rabczewska, Senior Business Intelligence Developer, also from N Brown Group: “My day at The Donkey Sanctuary was an absolute blast! I spent the day pulling weeds and building fences, and there's something oddly satisfying about a well-built fence!
“The donkeys were pure joy too. I got to meet these fluffy, adorable characters and even had some quality stroking time.”
Some of the areas have been completely inaccessible for the last 10 to 15 years, so the work is ongoing, and is part of a larger project to help create more space at our Manchester centre. This has also included creating a new reception area for donkeys to live separately from the resident herd, during their first few weeks at the centre
Pascal added: “Around our sanctuaries, donkeys are helping to create a mosaic of habitats with diversity in age and height of vegetation, which in turn is creating more homes for wildlife.”