Why I set up the Wonkey Donkey sanctuary in Knottingley

Yorkshire Post

UK’s largest donkey sanctuary’s bid to build transformational therapy centre   Wonkey Donkeys’ bid to offer more donkey therapy   A rescue and rehabilitation centre for ill or mistreated donkeys is on a mission to offer people indoor therapy at their sanctuary in West Yorkshire.   Wonkey Donkey Visitors’ Centre, near Knottingley, has been going for ten years. It now cares for 32 donkeys as well as several ponies and goats.   Sanctuary founder Jenny Howarth came up with the idea of setting up Wonkey Donkeys following a period of ill health.

Transcript

00:00She was my first miniature donkey and obviously I got into donkeys through an illness and it all

00:05stemmed from a broken foot and it was misdiagnosed as a sprained ligament. So for 10 weeks they made

00:13me walk on it and the pain caused my brain to shut down. I was left with hypersensitivity all over my

00:18body and literally overnight I lost the ability to read, write, I couldn't add any one and I was

00:24left with these dizzy spells where I dropped to the floor and I wouldn't be able to walk 24 hours.

00:28And of course that were a very scary time for me, my mum, my family. And one day out of the blue and I still

00:36don't know why, I asked for a donkey and I'd always been lucky that I grew up on a farm and I'd come

00:43from a horsey family and I never showed one bit of interest. So of course my mum said no you can't

00:48have a donkey and my aunties went out and got me one anyway and she was actually my first miniature donkey

00:55donkey and it was just like we bonded. I used to sit and read, practice my reading to her,

01:02just sit and talk to her and it did me the world of good. And she was in foam, so I had a little foam.

01:09And doing what we called donkey research, I found out that there was a whole donkey stud that a couple owned.

01:15They actually started the Miniature Mediterranean Donkey Association and they were giving up and looking

01:20to re-home the donkeys due to ill health. And when we actually went down to visit them, we went all the

01:27way down to Sussex and they said, you haven't got enough donkey experience but come and visit them.

01:34And by the time we left after the weekend, they'd given me every donkey, all their equipment,

01:39so we went up in numbers quite quickly. I had a few more falls born. But of course then it was,

01:46we were about 13 and we were at the points where I'd relearned everything, nothing ever came back,

01:51so I had to learn how to add and write again and read. And I said to my mum, we've got these baby

02:00donkeys that have been born into this home. They're just no love. What about those that aren't like this

02:06and they need a home for life? So I want to rescue them and of course I were doing really well and I

02:12wanted to be able to share my donkeys with other people. So I said, can we have a donkey sanctuary?

02:17And this time she said, we'll see what we can do. So it's been a very long journey but well worth it.

02:25This area is going to be our new indoor therapy centre. So it takes over all this paddock and a

02:32little bit more and we're going to be able to offer our donkey therapy sessions in here where people

02:39will be able to walk the donkeys, interact with them on a much bigger scale than what we can just offer

02:44at the minute. Hello, Christine and Duncan here with Samson the Donkey. And this is the Wonky Donkey

02:51Sanctuary just outside Darrington. We're down here to find out all about it today but also to promote

02:57a very special event that's coming up on May the 7th at the King's Croft Hotel in Pontefrat. Yeah,

03:04Duncan and I are going to be on stage telling you all our secrets. What are we doing? Are we? It's an

03:09audience. It's the first ever audience with Christine and Duncan and all those behind the scenes, Goss.

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