Our Friends the Donkeys

In 1991  two professional people re-located to Cyprus to live a quieter life. He to write about wine, food and rural life, she to design a home and garden in a remote village. In 2005 they had a 7-day week looking after more than 120 donkeys and coping with thousands of visitors, mostly British, who were totally essential to the survival of their animal sanctuary. In 2007 they were taken over by a Devon based donkey charity 'The Donkey Sanctuary.'




    "Friends of the Cyprus Donkey", is a registered Cypriot non-profit charitable association, started in October 1994 by Mary and Patrick Skinner in Vouni village, when their original family of "pet" donkeys had suddenly developed from three to six. In October 1995 there were 17, a year later 37, in October 1997, 57 and today more than 80. All animals are elderly, frail or simply unwanted, but they form part of a rapidly disappearing part of the heritage of Cyprus.

From a small private endeavour run by the Skinners, with some help from friends, has developed a growingly efficient animal care organisation with full-time carers, a rota of volunteers, weekly farriery sessions and consultant veterinarians. A service of advice, medical and foot care is also offered to owners of donkeys not in the Vouni sanctuary. All this requires an income of at least ST£7,000 per month to meet day-to-day costs and the development programme required to take in more animals.

    "Income comes through many channels", says Administrator Mary Skinner, "We have over a thousand members who pay an annual subscription. Hundreds of children "adopt" a donkey for £5,00 a year. There are a number of generous donors and we also have as many as a thousand visitors a month, who help us financially and buy merchandise from our shop, which has a growing range of good quality products for gifts. Nevertheless, because we are growing all the time, we urgently need all the help we can get: financial; peoples' time, and all kinds of materials".

Animals are resident on four sites. Two are not far from the Skinners' house, "The Home Site". One, with 15 animals is the "Intensive Care Unit" for old and frail animals. Half a kilometre away is "The Stena Site", on which more than 80 donkeys now reside. At Stena are the Association's shop, refreshment facilities and picnic area. More land in the Stena area and elsewhere is being rented to cope with the arrival of more unwanted animals.

 Visitors are welcome from 10.00 a.m. to 4p.m. every day, except Sunday, but in view of the calls upon the staff and helpers, they are requested to phone first to arrange their visit. Groups are very welcome and special programmes can be arranged.

via Friends of the Cyprus Donkey

If you think you can help these lovely, hard-working animals survive, don't hesitate to contact the Skinners through their website. Animals have rights too - including donkeys! 

Comments

[Lakis Ioannou]

Wow! Skimmers the Brits moved to Cyprus in order to seek a more quiet life which, I understand, they were unable to find in England! How sad! And they have decided to save part of our heritage - the donkeys. But, I suppose, that they have never ridden a donkey to go to school and their own livelihood now depends on the wonderful job they're doing to save our donkeys through their website! How pathetic! I'm sure their parents never needed a donkey to earn a living!

[Constantinos]

As a 7-year-old child, I used to help my father carry our olive oil produce to nearby villages in Crete. Donkeys carried the oil and I never had a problem then to ride one of our three donkeys. Now I understand why I was so good at horseriding as a student at Oxford!!!

[Tipper]

Amazing that all the people involved-from the workers to the donors-pull together for the Donkeys-nice : )

[walid1949]

Habebti.
Thank you kindly for the good Post.
As far as I know the Donkey at the first photo is an original Cyprus Donkey Most of the color is white.That is the sing of Cyprus donkey white full fur white.
Second the way this Donkey stand with his head and ears down way.He smells the rain .
It is going to rain within hours if not minutes.
The second photo.The high of this Donkey if t was a female it is very good to meet a HORSE SO THE CROSS BREADING WILL BE a MULE .THIS IS GOOD MONEY FOR THE OWNER OF ANY HIGH LARGE FEMALE DONKEY.
Thank you Lakis for your comment it is very true words .
One main thin I like to add here Donkeys use to be road PLANERS use to plane where the road must be ,going up a hill.
But now after one hour a friend will pick me up to go in his car to buy some olives and olive oil may be soup as well.
God Bless.
With All my LOve Walid.

[Christina]

It's a great idea to have a sanctuary for the donkeys - they're so cute and in the past they used to do all the hard work - and they still do today if you think that on the island of Santorini they are used to carry tourists.

[Sophia]

It is ironic to think that we as Cypriots haven't done much to protect our donkeys and make them feel less unwanted! The Skinners are doing a great job!

[Agnes]

I rode a donkey once (in Greece) through some mountains. It was so much fun :-)

[Anastasia]

Laki mou, I think you come down hard on Mary and Patrick Skinner and I don't think they deserve this. But for them, our donkeys would have been an endangered species- if not extinct! Friends of the Cyprus Donkey is a non-profit, charitable organisation. I have never ridden a donkey to go to school, yet all that really matters is that these lovely animals need all our support.

[Anastasia]

I am very good at horse riding as well even though I've never ridden a donkey! :-)

[Anastasia]

The Skinners are doing a great job! And they depend on charity in order to offer our donkeys a happier life.

[Anastasia]

Hi Walid. I'll never stop learning from you! Thank you very much for the info. Yet, I can assure you that all Mary and Patrick want is some charitable help for the donkeys. I just don't want these lovely animals to feel miserable, unwanted or unhappy!

[Anastasia]

These beautiful animals still work harder than humans! I'm glad Mary and Patrick make them happier!

[Anastasia]

I couldn't agree more, Sophia. I believe our donkeys deserve all our love and support.

[Anastasia]

I've never ridden a donkey but my heart goes out to these lovely animals which are now mostly treated as unwanted species in Cyprus. These animals can offer us everything: fun, hard work and unconditional love.

[Lakis Ioannou]

Anastasia, I don't know the Skinners and I honestly didn't mean to be nasty. I just expressed an opinion which is also, I think, the opinion of many Greeks and Greek Cypriots. So many foreigners come to Cyprus to seek work and a better future - and I can understand that. But when foreigners claim to preserve our heritage, when they know nothing about it, I am furious! What about our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers who still do everything they can to save our donkeys in so many villages all over Cyprus? Now, you will tell me, these people - the real guardians of our heritage - don't know how to use a computer or build a non-profit, charitable website. All they know is how to communicate their love and gratitute to our donkeys - the donkeys they have known so well. These people out there in our villages may live on less than €1000 but they take care of their donkeys. If you count how many donkeys these people support all over Cyprus, in a non-lucrative business - they must be over 1000. So, one euro for every donkey...approximately.

[Lakis Ioannou]

I'm glad you got my point. Hope all is well with you.

[Lisa A]

Italy recently gave 15 of our donkeys to Ankara, Turkey so that they can collect their garbage! Donkeys still do a lot of hard work in the 21st century!

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=italian-donkeys-to-serve-mardin-2010-10-07

[Kofla Olivieri]

Interesting story. First time I saw a donkey was at the zoo in my hometown when I was a little kid. I've never even ridden a horse.

[Alexia M]

I only rode a donkey once and that was in Cyprus. I had lost my way in a forest in the mountains on my fourth day in Cyprus! It was getting dark and there was not a soul to be seen and my cell phone battery was flat. I could only hear wild animals howling! Then I met an old lady who was pulling a donkey loaded with local goodies. She spoke to me in greek and seeing I could not understand she showed me the donkey's back to tell me that I could sit on it and she would take me to the nearest village. With all that load on the donkey's back, I said no - poor animal - but seeing that the woman was smiling, I managed to ride it and we got to the nearest village. What I will never ever forget, Anastasia, is the hospitality that woman offered me without knowing me. She put me up for the night, she invited me to share the family's dinner and the following day she also gave me some of the goodies she was selling - dried frruits and some kind of toasted bread ( I forget what it's called)and she looked offended when I offered to pay. The donkey and that woman probably saved my life!

[Jean-Paul Bouvier]

Les ânes ont bien failli disparaître de France. Plusieurs associations ont œuvré pour la sauvegarde des races. Toutefois, ils restent fort mal considérés. On les croit toujours bornés, bêtes et mordeurs. Il est indispensable de réhabiliter leur image en développant des activités de loisirs (randonnées, attelage…) et pédagogiques (exposition, visites dans les écoles, conférences...). La thérapie par les ânes (asinothérapie) est encore très peu développée, pourtant elle offre beaucoup d'espoir et de réconfort aux enfants handicapés ou perturbés.

[Jim]

I've heard of the donkey sanctuary in Devon. They're doing a great job!

http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/

[Andreas]

Sure, like all living organisms animals and plants have rights. But future medical research will have to depend on animal experimentation. It's an animal's life against a human's life. What's most precious in your opinion?

[Anastasia]

Grazie Lisa for sharing yet another chore donkeys can do.

[Anastasia]

Kofla, I've never ridden a donkey, but I love horse riding. This said, I don't think donkeys should be kept in zoos!

[Anastasia]

Oh my! What an adventure, Alexia! The toasted bread is called "arkatena" and the dried frruit could be anything ranging between figs and "soutzoukos".

[Anastasia]

Mille merci pour l'info. Je ne savais pas que les anes de France sont en voie de disparition. Tout comme les notres.

[Anastasia]

Thank you for sharing the link, Jim.

[Anastasia]

Andreas, to me animal life is just as important as human life. Testing animals for medical research is cruel. I suppose there must be some other way to conduct medical research. As far as I know, genetic engineering can mean that laboratory animals are given genes which cause birth defects. When they reproduce, their young will be born with genetic problems. How justifiable is this, Andreas?

[Kofla Olivieri]

I agree, I don't think think we should keep animals in a zoo. For some reason this reminded me of the movie "Planet of the Apes", where the apes kept humans in cages just like a zoo.

[Anastasia]

That was a great film, Kofla. Just like humans, animals deserve a happy life in their natural habitat.