The Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge is full to the brim and beyond.
Charity founders Shirley Mainprize and Rob Miller were in the process of adding two more residents to the 39 donkeys who currently call the sanctuary home when a plea for help for 15 mini donkeys came from Vancouver Island.
“The owner has a pulmonary heart condition and is very, very ill,” says Mainprize, noting the owner called them when he realized his poor health was preventing him from caring for his animals.
Miller was on his way to the island yesterday to build a temporary shelter for the mini donkeys, who have been out in the rain since the roof to their shelter blew off in a winter storm.
Mainprize says she and Miller agreed to take the mini donkeys even though the sanctuary is at capacity – then wondered how they were going to manage.
“As we gathered, they need to be rehabilitated; they have bad feet and trouble walking,” she says, noting the non-profit sanctuary gets a $22,000 gaming grant but it can only be used to care for the existing population.
“You always know if their feet are bad, their teeth are bad – that’s a given,” Mainprize says. “Dental care will be a minimum of $1,500, the ferry is $1,500 per truck and there’s two of them going down, plus I figure $4,000 labour for the equine haulers for total transport.”
Mainprize figures about $10,000 will be needed to transport the donkeys and to provide initial care. And half of the current hay barn will have to be converted to provide shelter for the new additions.
“It’s likely they haven’t had dental or farrier care,” she adds, noting initial farrier care will cost approximately $600, with another $100 for worming paste and $40 each for tetanus, equine flu and West Nile injections.
And once they’re here, the donkeys that top out at 36 inches, will need more care and a lot of time before they can be sent out for fostering or integrated into the existing mini-donkey herd.
“We have to keep them in quarantine for three weeks, depending on their condition, and then we put them out with a fence between them and the rest of the herd, and then we do supervised visits,” says Mainprize, explaining donkey society is matriarchal. “The boys posture – they have their little harems and they finally fit into the order by being more aggressive or submissive. Then another new donkey arrives and it starts again.”
The latest plea for help is no surprise to Mainprize. She says people buy the animals because they’re cute but no longer want them when they discover how much work is involved – or have to give them up when they age or become ill.
Mainprize points out that donkeys can live to be 50 years old, sometimes outliving their owners.
Former Salmon Arm residents, Mainprize and Miller began their adventure with donkeys in 1998 when they were living in Sunnybrae.
“We bought a six-month old a boy, Max,” says Mainprize, noting the owner let her have him if she agreed to take his mother as well. She, however had very bad feet, a condition the couple tried to alleviate and one which taught them a lot about donkeys.
“Each donkey taught us a new issue,” laughs Mainprize, whose efforts, along with Miller’s, are voluntary.
The couple have outgrown their current space and are planning to sell the farm and buy one on that is on flatter land and will accommodate more donkeys. Mainprize, who has, on occasion, gone door-to-door selling pencils to try to raise funds to support the sanctuary, is hoping more people will step forward with donations.
Members of the Bugs R Us Club at Celista Elementary have raised $250 and are going to sponsor a donkey for five years with the money.
For information on the sanctuary, visit www.turtlevalleydonkeyrefuge.com. Tax receipts will be issued for donations to the Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge Society at 1125 Ptarmigan Rd., Chase VOE 1M1.
In the meantime, the sanctuary that plays host to special needs groups as well as area residents and visitors will open for the season on Easter weekend with a special admission-by-donation event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Regular season hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays until the fall.
