In Cyprus we were experiencing a mild start to the winter, but it was a dull overcast day when we received a telephone call from an elderly farmer who lived in the village of Malia, Limassol District. He had a female donkey which he no longer required for work and was unable to feed through the winter so his only solution was to shoot her. He had been talking about his problem in the local coffee shop in the hope a villager may take the donkey, fortunately he was overheard by the Mukhtar who told the farmer about the Donkey Sanctuary at Vouni. The next day the farmer telephoned the Sanctuary office and asked if we would take his donkey, the Farm Manager agreed and I was asked to pick her up the following day.

It had to happen – early morning saw the first of the winter’s heavy rains, so with my driver Petros I set out for Malia village, about half an hour’s journey from Vouni. The roads were extremely slippery and we had trouble keeping the horsebox on the twisting mountain road. We arrived at Malia village square were we were to meet the owner with the donkey. We waited and waited but no sign of the farmer or donkey. The wind was blowing and rain lashing, we were very cold and wet. While we were making a telephone call to the office for instructions a man arrived and told us the farmer no longer had the donkey. Fearing the worst that the farmer had shot her we started to leave the square, and then suddenly in the distance we saw a man with a very wet bedraggled donkey walking toward us. Was it our donkey? Yes it was Sierou.

We stopped and opened the ramp door of the horsebox, the poor donkey walked slowly aboard, she was very cold and wet so I gave her a quick examination to make sure she was fit to travel then we rubbed her down with straw to warm her. The owner signed our paperwork and said how grateful he was that we could take her.

We set off on our journey home; the weather had got worse as mist and low cloud had come down. It was very slow going; the donkey was nervous and restless in the box so we had to make several stops to ensure she was alright. The half hour journey took one hour fifteen minutes but we arrived back at the Sanctuary safe and sound.

During our absence the grooms had made ready a loosebox in the isolation wing, bedding it up with fresh straw. Sierou was taken into the box and I’m sure you could see the delight on her face at being warm and dry. After a few hours she was given a light meal and settled for the night.

Sierou is a very gentle, affectionate donkey and loves to play and have cuddles from the staff. She will receive medical examinations and tests which when complete will enable her to join pensioner’s field where I’m sure she will make lots of new friends.

Gill Powell
Welfare Officer