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ADOPT A DONKEY It's the perfect birthday GIFT or tribute for a friend, family member or co-worker.
Your Tax Deductible Donation helps support the Rescue Donkeys of
Purple Donkey Human Rescue.
2024 was a tough and expensive year especially for our rescues, Baby and Lovey who both have cancer. Lovey had surgery and seems to be in remission but Baby’s cancer is in an inoperable location and must be treated with injections. Extreme weather has increased the donkey's suceptibility to colic. Even though 100% of the proceeds from Cypress Farm Registered Miniature Donkeys is designated to support our rescue, is not nearly enough ! We rely on donors like YOU
to help. It only takes a moment. Become an anual or bi annual donor and qualify to visit the farm and meet your new friends. Thank you
Meet our sanctuary donkeys and experience the ancient connection between man and the world's second oldest domesticated animal, the humble donkey.
Meet the people behind the animals - the creators, caregivers, and community builders who infuse our farm with love, compassion and endless wonder.
A VETERINARIAN LETTER REGARDING DONKEYS WELFARE CONCERNS
Donkey issues as livestock guardians
While "some" donkeys can be thought to be useful livestock guardians, there are characteristics of this equid species, (donkeys) that result in most adoption organizations suggesting that farmers and ranchers should not use them in this capacity. Certainly, individual donkeys can be aggressive toward both dogs and coyotes, and they are easy to handle and train. However, there are also important reasons why livestock guard duty is not good for either the donkey or the animals that they are supposed to protect. It is certainly completely inappropriate for the miniature donkey. Some of these are:
• A donkey’s response to canines (dogs and coyotes) varies a lot between individual animals. Some donkeys are very aggressive and will attack even working dogs used to herd cattle and sheep. Others are fearful or simply don’t care if a dog comes into the
pasture and will not protect livestock animals at all.
• Large dogs, such as Rottweilers, German Shepherds, or wolves (or wolf hybrids) can badly injure or kill donkeys, especially if they are in a pack.
• Donkeys can live on a variety of forages and are very efficient in digesting low quality feeds. However, throughout the long grass prairie states of the Midwest and in the Southeast, pastures are just too high in digestible energy. This results in donkeys
developing obesity and foundering (laminitis, a painful and crippling disease) Fat donkeys also are prone to a condition known as “hyperlipemia”, in which excessive amounts of fatty acids are released into the blood and damage the liver. Hyperlipidemia is fatal. After all, sheep, goats, and cattle are fed for production, requiring maximal nutritional intake, whereas donkeys require the opposite.
• Shelter is a requirement. While this is true for any equid, based on internationally accepted norms for humane care of horses, mules, and donkeys, this is especially true for donkeys in the more humid parts of North America. Donkey skin may be thick, but it is also very sensitive to moisture and fly strike, with a tendency to hypersensitivity that produces large ulcerative lesions known colloquially as “jack sores”. Similarly, donkey hooves do not take moisture as well as horse or cow hooves. This has been demonstrated with objective research by The Donkey Sanctuary, in Sidmouth, England. Donkey hooves will crack and develop infections when chronically subjected to excess moisture, making the animal lame and limiting their ability to walk. These problems stem from the long history of the donkey, which originated in the Horn of Africa and were first domesticated by the pastoral people in modern Sudan and Egypt more than 6,000 years ago. The environment for which they were created was very dry and very marginal. Wild donkeys had to walk long distances on hard, abrasive surfaces for food and water, making them very hardy and able to survive thirst and dehydration. However, this also meant that donkeys initially lived in small groups, due to limited resources, which meant that they had less exposure to insect parasites than animals that traveled in large herds. It was more important to have a thick hard hoof than one that was water resistant, as there was little water in these desert environments, where mud and standing water was rarely a problem. Since the very earliest civilizations, which predated the Egyptian Pharaohs by more than a millennium, donkeys have worked, successfully, as transport animals in rocky, but arid parts of the world. While donkeys can be raised in wetter climates, this requires adaptations such as feed selection, pasture management, hoof trimming, and protection from flies, cold, and moisture for successful and humane care. When such things are not provided these kind and useful animals will suffer, have their lives shortened, and not be able to carry out the tasks that their owner wants them to perform.
Of course, there is also the ethical question of humans having a duty to the creatures that serve them. We have a compact with our domestic animals that requires that we protect them from harm, pain, fear, discomfort, thirst, and starvation. In any of our relationships with the creatures in our care, we need to fulfill our side of the bargain.
Eric Davis DVM MS DACVS DACVIM,
UC Davis-International Animal Welfare Training Institute, retired
Rural Veterinary Experience Teaching and Service (RVETS)
7373 Levee Rd. Dixon CA 95620
831-809-8248 (c)
Dr. Davis graduated from the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine in 1977. He worked as a farrier prior to his veterinary training and has experience in private practice, veterinary academia (faculty University of Tennessee, staff veterinarian at Iowa State University and Purdue University), specialty practice, and veterinary aid programs. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (LAIM). While a faculty member at the University of Tennessee, in 1996, Eric started Remote Area Medical Veterinary Services, to provide veterinary care in underserved rural communities in the USA and abroad. This became Remote Area Veterinary Service (RAVS), when the program was absorbed by The Humane Society of the United States, a program that Eric directed for ten years. RAVS projects worked on Indian Reservations and remote communities in 14 states in the USA. Internationally, Eric has participated in projects in Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Egypt, and Sri Lanka. Currently, Eric is retired from the Director position at the International Animal Welfare Training Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. There he worked directly with students and concentrated on world equine health and welfare problems. In 2013, working with Dr. Stephen Blakeway of the Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, UK, Dr. Davis, and his wife Cindy, started The Donkey Welfare Symposium, to concentrate on all aspects of husbandry, medicine, and welfare of donkeys. Eric Cindy, runs a 501 c 3 non-profit, Rural Veterinary Experience Teaching and Service, working to improve access to veterinary care in rural communities, and training veterinary students from a number of other countries. They live with their adopted ‘pod’ of 14 donkeys, their horses, one mini-mule, and numerous other creatures outside of Davis, CA. Dr. Davis also consults on donkey medicine and surgery through “Ask The Donkey Doctor”, a service of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue.
NEXT DATE COMING SOON
Sunday March 24, 2024
This training course is meant to familiarize our volunteers with the farm and
prepare them to assist in the care of our rescue donkeys.
8:30 AM to 12:30 PM
We can accept a maximum of 10 people for this course which includes a once a 3 hour commitment each week for a minimum of 3 months. Please DO NOT apply unless you are willing to commit 3 hours per week for 3 months or a minimum of 30 hours over a 3 month period.
At Purple Donkey, your dedication and support make a significant impact on the lives of our beloved donkeys. Join our team today and become part of a compassionate community committed to making a difference.
email us to sign up and receive your release. info@purpledonkey.org
Purple Donkey Human Rescue is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization © 2023 by Purple Donkey Human Rescue
Donkey Rescue & Sanctuary
Our mission is to rescue and renew long ears who are in need of food, shelter or medical attention. We also care for animals who must be surrendered no matter if it is part of an estate plan or inheritance or due to a sudden unforeseen change of life or illness. With donations we continue to improve and expand the physical area and facility that houses our purple donkeys. As we grow we can take on more animals in need of a temporary or forever home.
You can help these animals by becoming a
VOLUNTEER or making a DONATION
BE A PURPLE HEART DONKEY HERO
Create an online "fundrive" and you and your friends or workmates can help support a donkey for a week, a month or even a year ! Its easy
WHAT IS A DONKEY SANCTUARY ?
Donkeys can live to be 50 years old or more !!!!!
What would happen to your animals if you were to get ill or suddenly pass away ? Our dogs and cats might be placed with family or friends but equine is often a very different story. Donkeys can live longer than horses, thus they too often end up in kill pens if
something happens to their humans.
Have you made plans for your animals if you were to suddenly get ill or pass away ? Most people don't or they think a family member may take them. But situations change and donkeys are especially vulnerable.
Our Sanctuary offers a secure and happy forever home to animals who need to be surrendered due to family emergencies.
If you wish to make arrangements now, please contact our director today and we will arrange a consultation. Please note we cannot give legal advice. info@purpledonkey.org
What is Equine Therapy vs Therapeutic Activities
Purple Donkey Human Rescue is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization © 2023 by Purple Donkey Human Rescue. In addition to donkey rescue, our mission is to bring healing to our community by facilitating the connection between humans and the natural world through interaction with the humble donkey. In 2024 we offer
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING and
THERAPEUTIC ACTIVES with our donkeys such as trail walks, volunteer programs and interactive education for children and adults. As we grow and certify our staff and volunteers we have already initiated plans to add licensed therapists who are medical professionals to offer
EQUINE THERAPY to our facility. LEARN MORE
As of 10/04/24 we will be sending 300 bales of coastal hay to the distribution center in Tryon. We are also supporting 3 small crews driving from Charlotte to the mountains bringing food and supplies to churches and centers where people have found temporary housing. Please help us to support organizations like this and others to support the people and animals of WNC.
We are now done clearing and preparing a pasture and shelter to accept equine coming out of WNC and other areas. Please contact us if you have an appropriate space at your property to house animals. FLEET OF ANGELS
PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL IF YOU REQUIRE TEMPORARY HOUSING FOR EQUINE info@purpledonkey.org
Cypress Farm Registered Miniature Donkeys
1682 Pleasant Grove Road, Chester, South Carolina 29706, United States