Click on the donkey above to visit the website of the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary

We don't remember asking for a pony for Valentine's day but this beautiful pony; who we have named Valentina, was rescued on Valentine's day. She was left loose in a field near to the sanctuary with nothing to stop her wandering into the nearby main road.

 

Valentina and Smarty

She was completely untethered so we took her in until we can track down the owner, if she hasn't been abandoned completely. Appropriately she has a beautiful heart shaped mark on her forehead and has fallen in love with one of our other new arrivals.   Last month we mentioned how we needed to make room in the sanctuary for all the animals waiting to come in by homing some of our current residents.   Well the good news is we managed to home a donkey and a big one at that. Trevor our giant baby donkey has gone to a nice foster home.   Having made a bit of space we suddenly found ourselves with a new horse and a pony in a matter of days. So it turned out to be one animal out and two in! Luckily the pony, Smarty, is so small he doesn't take up much room. Smarty had been kept in a small area with no companions, little exercise and was being fed high energy oats so he’s a little hyper to put it mildly.   He particularly likes standing up on his rear legs and trying to box the baby donkeys and the volunteers with his front hooves. Once he gets used to his new surroundings and his more balanced diet he should calm down and we’ll be able to move him on to a new home.

 

Our other new resident, Shaggy, has settled in very well although we did have to move Pablo out of his pen and into the main donkey area to make room.   We haven’t been short of firewood this winter as Pablo’s first trick on being let out with the other donkeys was to knock down a tree. We know he’s a big donkey but it was a bit of a surprise.   With the side pens all full we’ve been busy repairing and renewing the metal roofs to keep everyone dry.   The original sheeting for Petra’s pen has lasted nearly five years but it has seen better days so we are saving up to replace it and make sure she stays warm and dry.     Forty kids from the Frigiliana primary school braved the rain to visit the donkeys. We didn’t have enough buckets to go round so we filled a wheelbarrow with carrots and leftover veg donated by local fruterias and farmers.  Donkeys are known for their big ears but their eyes were pretty big too when they saw the wheelbarrow full of treats.

Shaggy

The second annual yard sale in aid of the sanctuary took place in San Juan Capistrano and raised €580 - a huge thank you to Mary, Eleanor and everyone else involved. You can keep up to date with the latest donkey sanctuary events on our facebook page.

Last year’s successful sponsored walk, organised by Patricia, is to be repeated on Sunday morning, March 14, why not come down and join in the fun?

We are still expecting the arrival of pregnant donkey and foal so we are hoping to have moved Chalkie to his new foster home to make room for yet more new arrivals. We have some new woofers arriving soon to help out and continuing our partnership with an agricultural college in Holland. We will soon be joined by two Dutch interns looking to gain hands-on experience and help out the sanctuary at the same time.

Now that the evenings are getting lighter we are open to visitors everyday from 10-2 and 5-6pm. In the summer we open longer hours, please check the website for the latest times.

Thanks to Elena, John, Sandra and Stich for their donation, GINS for their €100 donation, Claudia and Carmen for their help with translations, Escuela de Idiomas Nerja for improving our Spanish and Jill Leeson for the knitted donkeys.

About Us

Our core visitor hours for February are 10am to 2pm and 5 to 6pm (please check the website for the latest opening hours).

We are open every day of the year and admission is free. Great fun for kids. Find us on the Soltalk map in square E2. We are on the western edge of town a few minutes walk from the Supersol supermarket next to the Rio Chillar river and its new promenade.

You can bring carrots and feed the donkeys by hand, please remember to break up any larger carrots. Like a city farm we have a variety of other animals that children can meet and learn about including pigs, goats and chickens. If you haven’t been in recently we have improved and expanded the visitor area so come and see us again as you won't recognise the place. Volunteers always needed.

You can find out more about us, adopt a donkey or donate by card or PayPal at our website or email us.

For information about volunteering, school visits or opening hours call Rory on (+34) 664 558 133.

For Rescues call (+34) 618 46 7575.

For fund raising or helping at the car boot stall call Irene on (+34) 690 047 350.

You can donate in sterling or euros with cheques payable to Nerja Donkey Sanctuary.

Postal address: Katherine Horne, Nerja Donkey Sanctuary, Apartado de Correos 414, Nerja, 29780, Malaga, Spain.

The Nerja Donkey Sanctuary is a registered Spanish not for profit charity number 7502.

Donkey Sanctuary Archives

Read previous Donkey Sanctuary News pages by clicking on the pictures

January 2010	February 2010
2009 articles
January 2009	February 2009	March 2009	April 2009
May 2009	June 2009	July 2009	August 2009
September 2009	October 2009	November 2009	December 2009