A donkey thought to be in his thirties called Bobby who was found abandoned in a field in Northern Ireland now has a sanctuary for life after being rescued by international animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary.
Welfare officers in County Antrim were alerted to the plight of the abandoned animal when a farmer called concerned about an elderly, underweight donkey with hooves in need of a trim that had been left in his field. Unusually, the donkey had a note attached to his head collar saying that his name was Bobby.
Luckily for Bobby, the farmer who owned the field had previously kept horses, and so had sufficient equine experience to be able to care for Bobby until welfare officers from The Donkey Sanctuary came to collect him. Under the expert care of staff from The Donkey Sanctuary he now has a roof over his head, trimmed hooves and a secure supply of food and water.
Allen Andrews, The Donkey Sanctuary’s regional welfare officer for Northern Ireland, was involved in Bobby’s rescue: “When I first heard about Bobby I was saddened to learn of another donkey adding to the numbers that are being reported as abandoned in Northern Ireland at the moment. The unusual thing with this case, and something that I have never come across before, is that Bobby had been left with a name tag on his collar. The fact that Bobby had also been left on the land of someone with equine experience suggests to me that this may have been a reluctant abandonment.
“In these difficult financial times, the cost of keeping donkeys means that for some they have become an unaffordable luxury. We may never know the reasons why Bobby was abandoned, but luckily for him, his story ends happily. He can now enjoy his later years safe in the knowledge that he has a sanctuary for life and need never be hungry or homeless again.”