The Wonkey Donkey Visitors Centre Indoor Therapy Centre

CAN YOU HELP FUND A £750,000 INDOOR CENTRE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AT YORKSHIRE'S LARGEST DONKEY SANCTUARY?

Hello my name is Jennifer Howarth, I am the founder of the Wonkey Donkey Visitors Centre in West Yorkshire, where we rescue sick, injured and abused donkeys. We are currently celebrating our 10 year Anniversary.

I should explain a little bit about myself and why I wanted to open a Sanctuary.

When I was 10 years old I injured my foot in the playground at school. I was wrongfully diagnosed as having a ligament injury. After ten weeks of being told to keep walking despite being in agony, doctors then discovered I had broken my foot when I originally fell. I collapsed many times, had dizzy spells, lost the ability to read and write and was diagnosed with an illness associated with severe trauma which is rare in children. I missed three years of school. During that time I became very depressed, withdrawn, anxious and unable to participate in everyday life as my dizzy spells continued. I had no interest in doing anything, I didn’t feel able to leave the house for anything except hospital appointments.

During my illness I asked my mum for a donkey. I still don’t know why as I had never shown any interest in donkeys prior to my illness.

My aunt, who has decades of experience looking after and riding horses, rescued a badly abused donkey and taught me how to care for it. Watching this poor little donkey regain his trust in people made me feel more confident and my illness became less severe.

 My family had many decades of equine experience and helped me to learn how to care for nervous, sick and injured animals and the number of donkeys we cared for increased.

At the age of 14, having learned again how to read and write, I decided I wanted to spend my life caring for donkeys. My family supported me and we opened The Wonkey Donkey Visitors' Centre in 2015. I returned to school, became Head Girl and left at 17 with 11 GCSEs.

I have learned how special donkeys really are and how much they can do for people who aren’t in a good place. I have seen how cruel some people are to donkeys and wanted to help as many donkeys as possible. I also wanted to help as many people as possible who were going through extremely difficult things, show them that you can recover and move forward in your life, even when there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

Since opening the Sanctuary, we have rescued 32 donkeys whose injuries and trauma vary from slight to severe. While some make a reasonable recovery, others never fully recover from the trauma they have had to endure. Our donkeys need many hours of rehabilitation over many months, even years.

All the time I see the how donkeys help other people just like they helped me. People volunteer to care for the donkeys under supervision or they simply come to stroke and cuddle them. None of our donkeys are ever relocated - they stay with us for life. The impact they have on visitors is often remarkable.

It is very humbling to see a blind child interact with a donkey and it’s as if the donkeys know to stand perfectly still for them to cuddle. Or when an autistic child with two carers, who constantly have to help him stand up, stands on his own for 15 minutes while his hands are on a donkey. Some people we help are sufferring with mental health problems. Some visitors are deaf or vision impaired or some have autism, dementia, learning difficulties, disabilities or are residents in nursing homes or hospices.

Why do we need a new indoor facility? 

We feel that everyone should be able to volunteer or simply visit whatever their disability, age or medical condition. Some come with carers and work with the donkeys as much as they can do safely. One of our volunteers, who was a young man terminally ill with cancer, came every week with his carer and drew great pleasure from his weekly visits. When he was no longer mobile, his carer brought him every week in a wheelchair and when he was too sick to visit anymore, we took two donkeys to him in hospital. We have visited many of our supporters who have been too ill to visit or in end of life care. We also offer work experience for colleges, schools, for all abilities and disabilities.

Our constant problem is that when the weather is against us it can be too hot, too cold, windy, raining, icy, muddy, for us to help people safely. Our volunteers are at risk of injury, so can’t undertake their tasks and gain the experience they need and our visitors are unable to interact with the donkeys, or their visits have to be cancelled in the interest of their safety. We have planning permission for a large covered building. This building will enable us to carry out all the tasks mentioned and offer protection from the elements for all our visitors and in future, we would not have to cancel their Sanctuary visits.

To be able to build this facility, we need to raise funds of £750,000. We are asking individuals and businesses to help us to raise this money to offer a facility that can be enjoyed by hundreds of people on a regular basis.

If you feel that you can help us with a donation we would be extremely grateful.

If you would like to visit the sanctuary to discuss the appeal and how you might be able to help us then please get in touch with me. I'd be happy to chat to you further about our plans.