Harriet's Donkey diary site is about donkey       news and fun at the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary        The Donkeys (and ponies, mules, horses, cats &      dogs!) all have their home in Nerja in Southern Spain.      If you are passing(!) you are welcome to visit the      Nerja Donkey Sanctuary (free of course!)             otherwise, use the buttons on the left to find our      more about us or CLICK on our Donkey and      we will keep you up to date by email.

  **** We also now have a cool Google map of how to find us - CLICK HERE

TO GO TO THE (NICER !) NERJA WEB SITE JUST CLICK HERE

All animals at the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary have been rescued by volunteers and
now living a new life to the full, working with kids and the handicapped to give
them pleasure by meeting these gentle and loving animals. We raise all our own
money to run the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary and are a Spanish registered charity called:
La Asociacion de Malaga de los Santuarios del Burro charity number 7502.

CLICK ON FLASH THE DONKEY TO GO TO OUR ADOPTION PAGE

Although we rescue and look after Donkeys, we also never turn away any other animal - When we arrive in the morning, we are terrified if we see a sack lying at the gate as it will have live kittens or puppies in it, usually mostly are, sadly, dead - In the last 12 months we have managed to re-home ovwe 100 dogs & puppies and over 30 cats & kittens (at September, we still have  21 dogs waiting for homes) - Have a look at our NEW CATS N DOGS page

Back to Donkeys - They take a fair bit of looking after, requiring to be fed first thing in the morning
(and again later which takes an hour each time by the time we tie them all up, prepare and mix their
food, and serve it! & yes, it means seven days a week!) and then brushed and generally groomed.
They usually have to be brushed several times a day.(another couple of hours) and given a bath
regularly, as their favourite pass time is to roll around in their sand pit !, but we are lucky as we
have a lot of young helpers, as you can see - Saturday morning in Nerja is our kids club where kids
learn about animals, but we are hoping to also start two after school clubs during the week.

We recently had to undertake a rescue of a big mule called Castano, we call him Castano 2 as he replaced a very old mule with the same name (and loving tempremant) that sadly died a few weeks ago - Castano 2 came to our notice via the Guardia Civil Police, who have a newly formed special animal unit called SEPRONA - They have opened an office in the Nerja Guardia Police station, and Diego and Alfonse came to see us about Castano 2, who they found living in a field in a nearby river bed. Castano had been badly beaten about his back and had also been forced to carry very heavy loads which meant he was almost crawling on his back legs and his hooves were completely overgrown as he was unable to walk on them. With the aid of six volunteers, we were able to get him on his feet. This picture is of him arriving at the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary where he is settling in very well. He may have to have an operation for his rear legs but our vet wants to leave him for a few weeks, with us having to gently exercise his rear feet 6 times a day !  

On the subject of feet, donkeys need a lot of care, and we have to check all of their hooves every day to remove small stones. Or, in our case, as our donkeys are all Spanish Donkeys that eat anything (visitors hats especially!) they are forever diving into thorn bushes that are all around us in Nerja (when they get the chance!) and often small thorns also get stuck in the hooves as a result of their odd munching desires! We have to have a special man, called a Farrier, to come in every six to eight weeks to trim all the hooves, as they are just like your own toe nails, except you don't use your nails for walking on ! This horrible picture is the hoof of Castano 2, and you can see what happens when they are not trimmed on a regular basis. Our Farrier is a local Spaniard called Antonio, who is really great with the animals, and although a lot of the animals have had a really bad life in the past, they all seem to like him, and never play him up, unlike Dave and I who really sometimes get the run around from our pals! Antonio has been around animals all his life, and yet watching him with his great big knife thing and huge toe nail clippers (well, sort of !!)  he is so gentle and so quick - He also is our donkey dentist! Yes, donkeys need the dentist as well as humans, but I will try and get some pictures of Antonio and his tools when he next calls for you to see what he uses, and how he uses them.

By the way, people keep asking how it all started, and apart for our love of animals, it started
about 10 years ago when I holidayed in the Sierras near Granada and loved walking around
the fields nearby. In Spain, most people have a small plot, which is called a Campo, where
they grow their own vegetables, and if it is big enough, vegetables for sale. In this area it is
olives, oranges, lemons and almonds that are the main crop. Although I was only 11, I was
able to wander around without problems, and I sort of started to keep a diary where I was
recording the number of animals and what they did as a school project idea.

Last year, I was back in the same valley and noticed there appeared to be hardly any animals
around, and when I found my old diary, I was astonished to find that the numbers had dropped from
over six hundred, to well under one hundred, and this started me thinking, and being nosy,
started to ask around. I was really horrified to find that life in the last ten years had changed
so dramatically that, as the way of the world had changed dramatically with children no longer
staying in the villages when they left school, there was no one to carry on working the land,
and there was no longer a demand for the animals. There was another problem in that for
centuries, the animals always lived in the village, and usually in the same house as their owners!
but with EU regulations and health & safety etc., town halls were now banning animals from
living in the village.
The result of this is that it became impossible for people to keep their animals, as most people
could not afford to build a stable, and if it could only be built kilometers away, the whole thing
was impossible so, usually when Papa finally departed for "higher things" it became inevitable
that the animal went with him, shortly afterwards. - In many cases they were just turned out
somewhere and left, and that is really how it all started - This is the short (and not nasty)
version of events, and it just sort of went from there. Much love, Harriet & Dave

SOME QUICK LINKS & CONTACT STUFF

TELL A FRIEND		VOLUNTEER	NEWS    LETTER	DONKEY  AID	CONTACT       US	NERJA
ADOPTIONS		CAS	KIDZ CLUB

Mobiles Harriet (both 0034 for Spain) 618 467 575   - Dad (if u want something!) jim@donkeyaid.com -
Night times (if not of call-outs!) you can get us on (0034) 952 52 8466

We don't have electricty, phone or anything at the sanctuary, but we have the internet at Dad's so  we can answer mails and stuff at night - We also have this cool FREE INTERNET TELEPHONE CALL system called SKYPE which you can dowload for free (see the SKYPE stuff at the very bottom of the page) so you can call us free at night - we are called NERJADONKEYSANCTUARY.

Did I mention, that Christmas is coming !!!!!!!

Did I mention the KIDZ CLUB and their sponsored walk ???  it raised almost 300 Euros and everyone have a great time, including the donkeys !!!!, and certainly made Nerja aware of our presence!!!! Our thanks to all those that helped....

   if you have SKPE, click here for a DIRECT CALL to  
   NERJADONKEYSANCTUARY

 If YOU DO NOT HAVE SKYPE you can download it           
or If you want to find out more BEFORE YOU DOWNLOADING go to www.skype.com

email us

http://s109679175.websitehome.co.uk/tinc?key=yujXFAwR