The rescue sanctuary that’s simply donkey business

Back in the 1950s, as Sandy tells it, her grandfather owned a ranch around Terrey Hills in Sydney and ran a rodeo ground there. Chuckwagon racing brought the punters, and clowns would keep them amused during the halftime break, using donkeys for comic relief as part of the act.

�That�s how my mum got into donkeys,� she says, �because it was her job to look after them. When she married Dad and they bought a farm of their own, there was always a need for donkeys. Mum researched donkey welfare, and donkey care and conservation � now she�s quite knowledgeable and has written a few books.�

A need for donkeys? What roles do donkeys play on a farm? �They�re such useful animals,� says Sandy. �A lot of thoroughbred breeders will use a donkey by putting it in with their healing foals to help calm them down. Donkeys have a very calming nature about them. Of course, I�m not talking about a $50 wild donkey that�s probably never seen a fence before. We�re talking about a quieter animal that has been educated on this kind of work.

�At the Royal Easter Show, those big bulls walking in led by a five-year-old child into the arena to be judged� well, most of the time those bulls have been taught how to lead by a donkey. They put a calf collar on the bull calf and the donkey, put it in a round yard under watchful conditions, and let that donkey drag that calf around. Whatever that donkey will do, that calf will do the same.

�Train your donkey right,� she says, �and your donkey will train your bulls and calves.� Then there are guard donkeys. Being very territorial, donkeys like to get rid of dingoes and wild dogs in a similar vein to alpacas; being social creatures, they naturally bond with the herd they�re tasked with protecting.

�If you have two donkeys being a pair, those two donkeys will be over in one paddock, while your cattle are over elsewhere with the dogs. Donkeys won�t care because they�re together,� says Sandy. �But if you have one donkey, it�s lonely, so it�s going to stick with the herd.�

No wonder then that Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary has a long waiting list for farmers wanting one of her rehomed rescue donkeys � especially because she offers education, and helps farmers with understanding the particular knack needed to look after each animal she�s put so much effort and money into rescuing. And here�s where the logistics get tricky.

Sandy might travel to Tasmania one month, then up to the Northern Territory the next, organising road transport in each place to bring a donkey back to her operations in NSW. She has well-wishers all over the country giving paddock space to her donkeys-in-transit, but the costs of running it all are still a major roadblock.

�Mum started this in 1972, and it grew until it was a registered charity by 1990. But the government doesn�t help many animal charities � horse rescue, goat rescue, donkey rescue� we don�t get any assistance, and we rely on the general public to survive,� says Sandy.

“But the roadblock is also time, because I�ll only do this if I do it properly. I say if you want a donkey, you need to come and volunteer with me first. I�ll see how experienced you are and how capable you are of handling an animal.

�Then once I�ve seen people, I go and check their property to make sure it�s OK. At the moment my waiting list is more than 150 people, nearly all approved homes wanting donkeys.�