A young woman, who lives in the village of Agios Ioannis Agros, contacted us as she had heard that a donkey owner was going to shoot or abandon his donkey as he could no longer look after it. She told the owner about the sanctuary and he then rang us to ask if we would take the donkey. On 9th June 2010 we went to collect Markos. The owner didn’t really want to shoot or abandon Markos – it was just that he couldn’t afford or manage to look after him anymore and thought he had no other option. It’s often difficult to understand that there are still people living off the land in very remote areas of the island and despite our Outreach Work, some owners are unknown to us. This is why we need to continue this area of our work.

Although we had a bit of difficulty ageing Markos, we knew he was very old as he used to be worked by his elderly owner’s parents! Markos was used by the family for carrying fruit that the family grew as well as collecting firewood. He would carry the fruit to the market to be sold and through his hard work, provided his owners with some of their income.

Ironically, and fortunately, Markos was virtually saved due to an Adoption! The lady who told the owner about us is a school teacher and she had brought the children to the sanctuary some time ago where they adopted one of our donkeys! One donkey saves another! He is a very friendly chap and fully deserves a happy retirement.