60 male donkeys and horses on the island of Grand Turk will be castrated this week by the Sidmouth-based Donkey Sanctuary. It is one of the largest breeding control programmes ever to be conducted by the charity.

Since 2008 the donkeys have been causing a nuisance on the island due to high levels of breeding and threats had been made about slaughtering hundreds of animals. Since then Andrew Trawford, the charity’s director of veterinary services, has been in contact with government officials of the Carribean Islands of Grand Turk, South Caicos and Salt Cay to help find a solution to their problems.

The donkeys to be castrated are currently kept in a compound on the island of Grand Turk and the surgery undertaken by The Donkey Sanctuary will play a crucial role in controlling their future population, and securing their futures. The Turks and Caicos SPCA and the Pegasus Foundation have been approached to assist with funding for the drugs used on the horses and ponies.

Dr Trawford has arranged this week’s breeding control programme and is joined by a vet and nurse from the Sanctuary’s main veterinary department in Sidmouth and a further vet, seconded from it’s Mexico branch, to help carry out the operations.