Our long dream of having donkeys of our own was realised in 1988 a few months after we purchased a house with enough land. The landlord of the Rising Sun pub at Wootton was retiring and needed to find a home for his two female donkeys, Haggis (born on Burns night) and Unity (born when some sea scouts from HMS Unity were camping on his land).
A friend collected them the next day and we let them loose with his cattle that were using the land we had rented out to him.
An old wooden shed was dismantled and transported to a new position and a wooden fence built so they soon had a field of their own.
Sadly, about three years later, Unity developed leukaemia and, despite receiving blood transfusions, she died. She was only about 13. One of her blood donors called Susie was offered to us and she arrived on Christmas Eve 1991. She was with us for 25 years till her death in 2016. People are often surprised when told that 30 to 40 years is not an uncommon age for a donkey.
Haggis died in 2010 aged 36 and as we have never wanted to breed donkeys and there are plenty that need good homes we prefer to foster them. Donkeys need company so we approached the Sidmouth Donkey sanctuary for a suitable companion. Before sending a donkey to us to foster both of us needed to attend a one-day Donkey Care Course. Jack Bury duly arrived but not before we had to assign ownership of Susie over to them as part of the agreement. The reasons are that if one of its fostered donkeys needs an operation at their well-equipped hospital in Sidmouth their companion accompanies them.
The Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary rep visits us a couple of times per year and they are always available for help.
Jack developed cancer of the sheath but after intensive treatment he survived and after the death of Susie in 2016 two other potential companions could not be supplied. On one occasion, because of mistreatment, she would become a welfare case and the other because she was found to be pregnant. As a result we fostered both Saoirse (dob 2007) and Jojo (estimated dob 1996) as company for Jack. Both females they had been brought over from Ireland by the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary and Saoirse’s named was anglicised by us to Sasha.
Jack sadly died in 2018 aged 30.
Jojo and Sasha
Many people are not aware that although donkeys are Equines they are quite different from horses being different species. Even some vets seem unsure of this. Their farrier is specially trained and visits every 8–10 weeks. Our donkeys are not shod but would need shoes if they did a lot of road work.
The offspring of a male donkey and female horse is a mule. That of a male horse and female donkey is a hinny. Neither can reproduce.
Donkeys survive on rougher pasture than horses. We supplement their grass with Barley Straw, not hay.
Donkeys are stronger than ponies (or so our farrier tells us).
A typical weight of a donkey is around 30 stone. This is much more in kilogrammes when they stand on your foot.
Italians use donkey meat for making salami. This is not a food we ever eat!
In recent years Jojo and Sasha have been the stars at local Palm Sunday and Nativity services and in December 2019 had pride of place in Wimborne Town Square for an event organised by St Johns Church.
Ian & Pauline
(Article updated 7th August 2020)
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