About rest ur ass donkey sanctuary

Donkeys, with their soulful eyes and big personalities, are such lovable animals, and yet they suffer terribly worldwide. While my husband, Albert, and I were driving through a rural area in 2016, we witnessed the abuse some donkeys in South Africa were suffering.

There are over 44 million donkeys worldwide and, sadly, due to a combination of lack of education and peoples need to survive and ensure their families are few and sheltered, so many donkeys are subjected to neglect and abuse, overworked and left to die in agony.

As an animal lover, seeing this deeply upset me. I told Albert that, one day, we'd have a sanctuary for abused donkeys, where they can retire and just live and breath.

The first three

We adopted our first three donkeys - Herbie, Eli and Simon - from the SPCA Benoni. On the 15^th of December 2017, we led the three lucky equines into a rented horse trailer and took them home. We have not looked back since.

Herbie was a part of the infamous Hartswater Auction featured on the Carte Blanche television show on 25^th of January 2017, where more than 400 horses and donkeys were to be auctioned off. Over 200 were fortunate enough to be rescued; eight of the rescued donkeys went to the Benoni SPCA to find forever homes.

• Meeting Herbie