Brr…! Never known a winter like this, is the cry from the local farmers, and they are not kidding. It was of course the dreadful wind chill factor that was doing it so we had to rush around buying more safety fences from next door (we worry about the bill later when the animals' health is at risk) and covering them with the green screen stuff to make wind breaks.

When the weather is bad, we often have to put certain animals in pens at night and Petra has to use a side pen but we had run out of the green stuff so we had to make do with blankets - we look a bit like an Indian bazaar!

The other result of very cold nights, rain and winds, is that our lot have to be fed a lot more to keep their strength up. Also the side pens and main areas all need bedding to help insulate the cold ground so it’s double up on the hay order (more dosh going out!) and as the road outside still resembles a battlefield from WWI (yes, still no sign of action from the town hall) the feed truck can't get in properly so it is a muscle job again!

Luckily we had just built some new pens as Diablo, as he is known, had to be kept separate from the others until he had been checked over by a vet. Diablo is now able to mix with the baby donkeys. All young males together, they burn off their youthful energy in the back field at the end of the day once visiting hours are over.

Recent visitors to the sanctuary will have noticed the huge improvements made to the fencing. As you can see in Diablo's picture the old metal fences have been replaced with lovely new wooden beams.

Much better for donkeys and visitors alike although we are keeping our fingers crossed that there will be any visitors in to see them.

Thanks to Mog and Dave (pictured left) for the free builder's expertise and hard work and to all those volunteers who helped out with the digging, lifting and hammering.

The new fencing provides four brand new pens, improves four older ones and has given Henrietta, our pot bellied pig, a lovely new home. It has meant that the dogs are now in nice new pens towards the back of the sanctuary so apologies to anyone living on that side of town who may hear the barking.

We are working hard to home the dogs as quickly as possible as although they have a nice life in the sanctuary they deserve more permanent loving homes. If you can home one of our remaining 12 dogs please come into the sanctuary or give us a call. You can see our dogs online at here.

We received a call from a young girl about a horse having trouble walking possibly due to damage to its legs.

Our rescue team found the horse on a very steep slope and could see that the problem was due to overgrown hooves. An easily solved problem if the owner actually bothered to get a farrier to attend to his animals.

Sadly, overgrown hooves can eventually lead to the death of an animal through the awful stress it causes them. By leaving his animals on such a steep slope he is risking not only a fall but it exacerbates the hoof problem as the horse is forced to stand and walk in an unnatural position causing the hooves to curl. We would of course happily pay for the farrier to work on these animals but without permission from the owner we have no chance.

Having had run-ins with this owner before we decided to report it straight to the Guardia officer who had brought us Diablo. He assured us this man had

With Woofer (World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) Sylvain setting off to Australia, we were very lucky to have another, not one, but two extra full time Woofer volunteers, Lucy and Andy from Dorset, doing a few months travelling, joining us, and they are settled down nice and snug in their “des res”, one of the overnight caravans, and using the cold shower that we have installed in the loo!  One of these days, when we have some money, we might just manage to fit a hot water boiler!

Andy is pictured here walking Silver who was suffering from colic and had to be kept moving.

We all want to say a big thanks to these extra, and much younger, full time volunteers who join us for a month or so. Woofers are for the most part people travelling around Europe on a very limited budget to help out charities and farms. If you have any food left over at the end of your holiday they won´t be offended if you bring it in to the sanctuary for them, half a packet of biscuits is better than none!

More fantastic fund-raising feats with Eleanor Nurse and Mary Campbell (pictured right) raising €500 for the sanctuary at their garage sale in Urbanisation El Algarrobo. Many thanks to everyone who helped out.

Allen Palmer celebrated his 65th birthday with a party at Rocky´s bar. In lieu of presents, donations were made on the night and €210 were collected for the sanctuary.

The figure later rose to over €500 so a big thanks and what a great idea.