Skeletal and injured donkey rescued

A malnourished donkey with severe facial injuries, found on the streets by Formentera police last week, has been brought to safety at the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre in Rojales.

Co-founders Sue and Rod Weeding were called by officers to pick up the abandoned donkey last Friday (January 26), as Spanish police have no official facilities to house large seized and abandoned animals.

The Weedings, who now have 110 rescued equines in their care, are providing the donkey with feed and much-needed veterinary care, even as they face mounting bills caused by slow patronage of their charity shops.

“At the moment, the charity shops are just dead. It’s just like a ghost town – we’ve never quite known a January like this. We’re running at under half of what we’d normally take in the charity shops – and we rely on this money to feed and care for our horses, which costs €4500 a week,” Sue said.

“We now owe €10,000 for horse feed. We keep paying €1,000 here and there when we can muster it up, but we’re just getting slower and more behind. We also owe the Alicante horse hospital €2,500. So things have been a bit scary of late.”

The centre has now launched a two-euro drive, calling on its supporters to donate just two euros (or dollars or pounds) to help pay down these large bills and get the centre back on its feet.

“We now have more than 8000 followers on Facebook – if everyone was able to make just one small two-euro donation, we would be able to pay off these bills today. That would be an enormous relief,” Sue said.

Donations can be made online at easyhorsecare.net/donate/one-off-donation, via PayPal using the email address rescue@easyhorsecare.net, or via the ‘donate’ button on the rescue centre’s Facebook page.

Meanwhile, the new rescue donkey – which has not yet been named – is receiving daily treatment for her facial wounds. She may also be in foal; scans in a few weeks’ time will determine for sure.

“She’s obviously been kept with pieces of rope permanently tied around her face and they’ve grown into her head. She also has quite bad problems with her feet, probably because her hooves have never been trimmed,” Sue said.

“But she’s got the most beautiful nature. She’s so lovely and cuddly. We don’t think she’s ever actually had much human contact, it’s almost like nobody’s ever stroked her or given her a carrot. She’s probably just been shut away in some filthy, dirty hole and used for breeding.

“How she ended up on the streets, we’ll never know. We suspect her owner, for whatever reason, just decided to dump her on the street. This is happening more and more now, where people are literally just throwing donkeys and ponies on the street.”

Easy Horse Care receives no government funding despite providing this critical animal welfare service to local police, and relies entirely on community support.

Donations of cash or items for the centre’s network of six charity shops across the Alicante province are gratefully welcomed. A pick-up service is available to collect large donated items such as furniture and each shop also offers a delivery service for large items purchased in-store.

Anyone interested in making a donation, becoming a long-term sponsor, or volunteering at the rescue centre or in the charity shops can call Sue on +34 652 021 980.

Located just outside Rojales at Partido Lo Garriga, 59, the Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre opens to the public on the first Sunday of every month between 1pm and 4pm. Visit www.easyhorsecare.net and follow on Facebook at @EasyHorseCare.