My name is Zoë and I have worked at The Donkey Sanctuary for the past 10 years, most of these as Liaison Officer for our Sanctuary in Co. Cork, Southern Ireland. I wanted to share with you a little event that made my day!

Recently I had a unique opportunity to help out at one of the Experience Days we hold here at the Sanctuary - these days are often bought as presents for donkey lovers who come behind the scenes as a donkey carer for the day. They get involved in grooming, mucking out, feeding and walking the donkeys - great fun, interspersed with lunch and a Devon cream tea to round the day off!

One of the pressing concerns at the Sanctuary in Ireland currently, following the devastating impact of the credit crunch there, is that huge numbers of donkeys are being relinquished to our care. Space on the farms is limited and so a programme of moving donkeys back to our farms with capacity in the UK has been underway for some time now. I remember a particular pair of Irish donkeys, Daragh and Connor, who I met in Ireland and who travelled to the UK last year. You can imagine my surprise to find these lovely donkeys taking part in the Experience Day! Due to their incredibly good natures, sociability and being quick to learn, they were obvious candidates to be donkey ambassadors and love every minute of their work. Daragh doesn’t look his best at the moment having just been clipped to keep him cooler in the warm weather. No doubt he will be back to his shaggy best this Autumn though! His floppy ears also don’t help his look - we don’t quite know why they droop but it may be due to an injury when he was younger.