A couple of days ago, Chris and I went off for the day to visit Suzanne and Alistair, they are friends who run 'Walk With Donkeys', a sanctuary for injured, unwanted, old or neglected donkeys. I have blogged about the once before. This time we were delivering some cuddly hand-made donkeys...
..which Chris, Sylvia and Joyce had made for the shop.
Over the last 6 months I am responsible for Suzanne and Alistair aquiring their last 2 donkeys..
Bobby
and,last week..Joy............
The sanctuary nestles in the rugged mountain crops above Ierapetra on the south coast, it a very special place.
We spent a wonderful few hours with these fabulous animals, each one has a completely different identity, some quiet, some wanting attention and some, just doing their own thing
Chris found a friend in Loukas, he realised she had carrots so followed her everywhere!
We were made very welcome and it seemed donkeys were coming out of bushes to say hello.
Suzanne had us working, brushing several of the donkeys but we enjoyed it as much as the donks obviously did!
It's so nice to see these old animals living in such a happy home after all they've been through.
Some have been mistreated or tied up for many years...some have been left because their owners have grown too old to look after them.
When I moved into our village, there was 3 donkeys living and working around the olive groves, but in 3 years it has dwindled to just 1. The older residents of the community are dying and the younger folk don't have the time to care for these creatures.
The sad thing is though that many of the donkeys are sold to the meat wagons that drive around and buy old donkeys, they then go to be fed to circus animals... but I've also been told that some end up in Italy being made into salami, perish the thought!!! Gross!!!
Isn't it much better that they end up in places like this, with loving, patient, people like Alistair and Suzanne?
?
They can be visited by families who enjoy stroking and chatting to them.
We ended our day, in the shade, drinking tea, chatting to 2 lovely people who work 7 days a week caring for donkeys other folk don't care about ..thanks Suzanne and Alistair, we thoroughly enjoyed our day and will be back very soon.
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12 comments:
Looking at the photo's brought back lovely memories. Anyone visiting crete should pop along. One of the best days I have had for ages. Thanks Jude for taking me. x
Looks like everyone had a good day. Especially the donkeys.
What a great job they are doing - it must be lovely to visit the donkeys you helped and see them so happy and well looked after!
thank you for the blog Jude - and I do hope that you and Chris and more of your friends will come again soon..donks need brushing every day at moment to get rid of all their winter coat!
I remember one of your older posts about a poor old donkey - so glad to know that there are people like these who give these lovely animals a happy end-of-life.
They seem like such lovely animals - I would love to have one. Everytime I see a story about a donkey I think of you (it's a compliment!) because of that first post.
I don't think I'll ever eat Italian salami again....
Thank goodness for people who take on the responsiblity of looking after these animals and giving them such care after their long working lives.
They're such lovely, peaceful creatures. I've got very addicted to Donkey Cam on twitter, with shots of the donkeys calmly doing not very much at all!
Love the photo of the chocolate coloured donkey so obviously enjoying a 'hug'! Lesley x
I love those fabric donkeys, & isn't it fab that there are people willing to get on & care?!
Hope you & your family are well, especially your grandaughter...
Lx
Life with donkeys looks like fun. We saw lots of wild animals on our recent road trip too. Love the toy donkeys as well. Enjoy summer.
Hi Jude! Thanks for visiting and introducing me to your lovely blog....I've just been marvelling at the flowers! The scarf in Riot is just beautiful - which shade is it? I will def be using this yarn again xx
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