THE DONKEY SaNCTUaRY aNNUaL REVIEw 2012 OUR wORK aND aCHIEVEMENTS IN “I LOVE EVERYTHING 2012 aND STRaTEGY FOR 2013 aBOUT DONKEYS. CONTENTS THEY aRE NOBLE, Donkey Sanctuary facts and statistics (Pages 4 - 5) HaRD-wORKING Message from the Chief Executive (Page 7) anD LOYal anImalS Rescue and Rehoming (Pages 8 - 9) Donkeys in the Community (Pages 10 - 11) anD YET aT THE Donkey assisted Therapy (Pages 12 - 13) SaME TIME HUMBLE. Veterinary Excellence (Pages 14 - 15) The future: The Donkey Sanctuary’s Strategy for THEY HaVE SERVED 2013 (Pages 16 - 17) manKIND IN So manY Thank you (Pages 18 - 21) waYS FOR SO LONG, Financial Summary (Pages 22 - 23) aSKING VERY LITTLE IN RETURN. IT PaINS MY HearT TO KNOw THEY aRE OPEN TO aBUSE.” aNNa REINBERGEN, SUPPORTER. 2 3 DONKEY SANCTUARY FACTS AND STaTISTICS 27 PROJECT COUNTRIES wORLDwIDE The Donkey Sanctuary supports projects to relieve the suffering of donkeys and mules in 27 countries worldwide; including sanctuaries across Europe and major projects in Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Mexico. 15,500 DONKEYS 5,500 DONKEYS aND 46,000 DONKEY 6 DONKEY AssISTED 530 VOLUNTEERS aND MULES PROVIDED MULES CURRENTLY IN AssISTED THERaPY THERaPY CENTRES GIVING THE DONKEY wiTH a SanCTuarY FOR Care aT SanCTuarIES SEssIONS HELD FOR OPEN SEVEN DaYS a SanCTuarY THE LIFE OVER THE LaST 44 aND FOSTER HOMES IN CHILDREN aND aDULTS wEEK IN SIDMOUTH, PRECIOUS GIft OF TIME. YearS. THE UK, IRELaND aND wITH aDDITIONaL NEEDS. IVYBRIDGE, BIRMINGHaM, MaINLaND EUROPE. MaNCHESTER, LEEDS aND BELFaST. 200,000 VISITORS 1,500 DONKEYS IN 1,000,000 25 OVERSEaS MOBILE 5 OVERSEaS eacH Year TO THE CaRING FOSTER HOMES. DONKEYS wITHIN REaCH TEaMS wORKING CLINICS PROVIDING DONKEy SanCTuary’S OF OUR INTERNaTIONaL TO aLLEVIaTE THE HOSPITaLISaTION TO SICK HEaDQUaRTERS IN PROJECTS EVERY YEaR. SUFFERING OF SICK aND INJURED DONKEYS. SIDMOUTH. aND INJURED DONKEYS THROUGH VETERINaRY CaRE aND PREVENTaTIVE TREaTMENT aND wORKING IN PaRTNERSHIP wITH DONKEY-OwNING COMMUNITIES TO HELP 4 THEM DELIVER BEttER 5 CaRE THEMSELVES. MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE I would like to open by saying a big big thank you to all of our supporters and sponsors for their fantastic support during 2012. Despite the ongoing poor economic climate your continued generosity has resulted in The Donkey Sanctuary achieving its highest ever annual income total and consequently we have expended even more on our work worldwide. We had entered 2012 with some uncertainty. It was the first full year without our beloved founder, Dr Elisabeth Svendsen MBE, who had sadly passed away the previous May; we had merged our smaller sister charity the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys (EST) into The Donkey Sanctuary; the economy was poor and the survival of the Euro appeared in jeopardy. Yet despite all these concerns we were able to carry out all of our planned activities and in fact we feel confident enough about the future to expand our operations internationally. In summary our income for the year was £27.1 million, up £1.3 million (5%) on 2011 on a like for like basis. Our expenditure was £26.3 million versus £24.3 in 2011, with only 14 pence in the pound being spent on fundraising and governance. rewarding work of donkeys improving the lives of and Unfortunately in Ireland we continue to see a bringing so much enjoyment to children and adults with large number of donkeys being abandoned mainly by additional needs. The donkeys also benefit from the unscrupulous breeders and dealers. Whilst we still have activity they so obviously enjoy. some space to take in donkeys and mules in need it is Now entering a sixth year of economic hardship we getting tougher as this poor economic climate continues. have come to the conclusion that it is going to remain This has resulted in a push during 2013 to increase the difficult for some years to come and that our strategy number of donkeys going out to loving foster homes. going forward must recognise this. At the same time Surprisingly the number of donkeys relinquished to us on we look to expand our operations internationally, in an the continental European mainland has remained lower effort to grow our sphere of influence as the Centre of than expected. Excellence for donkeys and mules around the world. In Throughout 2012 we worked either directly, or with some areas we are also looking into how we can enhance like minded animal welfare partners, in 27 countries the value of the donkey by introducing donkey assisted around the world, most in the developing nations. Within therapy activities for children and adults with additional our own projects we reached over 400,000 donkeys needs in countries where severe hardship is already a through our fixed base and mobile veterinary clinics major part of everybody’s life. We do believe that donkey and through our community education programme we numbers being relinquished to us in the United Kingdom now believe that we reach areas where circa 1,000,000 and the rest of Europe will start to diminish as was seen donkeys can be found. All of our veterinary interventions in 2012 and was the experience prior to the economic and community education activities are treated as downturn that started towards the end of 2007. This will a teaching opportunity to veterinarians, veterinary enable us to concentrate on many more of the 50 million students, owners, handlers, children and the community plus donkeys and mules in need around the world. in general. We could not carry on helping hundreds of thousands Specific focus is being given to harnesses and harness of donkeys and mules worldwide each year without your making, hoof care and equine dentistry. The correct continued support and generosity, for which all of us here attention in these three areas alone can significantly at The Donkey Sanctuary sincerely thank you. We know improve the life of the donkeys and through this the lives it is all worthwhile when we read your letters, emails and of their owners and handlers. Facebook and Twitter comments and when others in The integration of the formerly named EST into the the world of animal welfare give you recognition for the work of the charity went very smoothly. We renamed contribution you make to improve the lives of animals the activities at the six centres in the United Kingdom worldwide. This was demonstrated recently when The “donkey assisted therapy” and rebranded each centre: Donkey Sanctuary was awarded the Carole Noon Award The Donkey Sanctuary – assisted therapy unit. All are for Sanctuary Excellence by the Global Federation of open seven days a week to the public, to enable people Animal Sanctuaries, the first time awarded to a United not only to visit the donkeys, but also to see the very Kingdom charity. Thank you so much. 6 7 RESCUE AND CaSE STUDY 1: CaSE STUDY 2: CaSE STUDY 3: REHOMING MULES FOSTERING RESCUE - BEttY GIVING UNwaNTED, NEGLECTED aND aBaNDONED DONKEYS THE LIFELONG CaRE THEY NEED At our farms and holding bases across the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Greece, France and Cyprus, donkeys and mules impacted by the economic crisis needed our help on an unprecedented scale in 2012. The trend of extensive abandonments in Ireland continued unabated, with donkeys left to fend for themselves on waste ground, roadsides and in industrial estates. Sadly the theme of donkeys being ‘surplus to requirement’ was reflected throughout Europe and the UK, with owners no longer able to care for their animals having no one to turn to but The Donkey Sanctuary. As a result we took a further 700 donkeys into our care this year, which presented a significant challenge, not least in terms of finding space to house them! We were forced to be creative, converting storage barns into Pupils from St Edwards C of E School with donkey housing on our UK farms; no mean feat during Sophie Carter, with Ballymac the mule. Maco and Joop. the wettest summer the UK has seen in 100 years. Meanwhile in Spain we created two new Isolation Units to accommodate and rehabilitate the continuous flow Mules are so often misunderstood as stubborn, The Donkey Sanctuary’s fostering scheme is one of When our welfare officer accompanied an RSPCA officer of new intakes who had frequently been traumatised by aggressive or unpredictable - but here at The Donkey our most important initiatives. Donkeys and mules are on a complaint following a tip off from a member of neglect and abuse. Sanctuary we have come to love them, following over bright, inquisitive and playful creatures, and whilst we do the public, they found Betty in pain and alone, with no Happily, despite recession, storms, floods and even twenty years of getting to know them at our farm in our best to keep them happy and engaged on our farms, access to shelter or water. Her hooves were extremely a fire at our Cyprus sanctuary, we were able to care for Tedburn St Mary. In 2012 we took care of over 130 we know that they are best served by becoming part overgrown, and she was suffering with an infestation of 5,500 donkeys and mules throughout Europe in 2012, mules who would otherwise have been homeless, and of a family, receiving as much one on one attention as lice and painful rainscald. The RSPCA removed Betty and give a further 1,500 donkeys homes with caring the farm staff there have come to understand and value possible. on welfare grounds and immediately signed her over to foster owners. these creatures’ sensitivity, intelligence and character. In 2012 Joop and Mary were fostered by St Edwards The Donkey Sanctuary, but for a while we feared that That said we also have a healthy respect for their C of E School in Rochdale.