Rescued donkeys now living in 'luxury'

A woman who raised £13,000 to rescue two donkeys from Cyprus said she felt "overcome with emotion" after getting them to their new home.

Animal charity worker Jo Welsby, from Solihull, West Midlands, fell in love with "big ginger donkey" Cinnamon while visiting a shelter on the island, where she regularly goes on holiday.

Abandoned by his owners, he was grossly underweight and had scars on his legs that suggested mistreatment. The shelter was close to bankruptcy and regularly ran out of food.

After Worcester Donkey Sanctuary agreed to give Cinnamon a permanent home, Welsby embarked on the huge challenge of raising the funds to transport him there.

I was just drawn to him," she said. "He was always really quiet — he was always stood by himself at the edge of the field under the trees. He just looked sad."

"Some causes just seem to touch people's heart more than others," she said. "A lot of people seem to just resonate with donkeys."

Since donkeys fret without others for company, a second from the Cypriot shelter, Wallis, was selected to be Cinnamon's companion.

"It was always a case of, if you're going to have to have one, you're going to have to have two," Welsby said. "It was a good pairing and they're now very very bonded."

Terrible news came in November, when Cinnamon's shelter was served with an eviction notice, meaning 1,000 animals faced being euthanised.

"It was all systems go," the former veterinary nurse said, adding staff worked round the clock to pull off the difficult task of arranging the donkeys' paperwork for travel.

The pair then spent three weeks in Greece over Christmas, before making their way more than 2,400 miles (3,862km) to Worcester with a specialist transporter.

"It was quite a marathon journey for them," she said. "They've been so good, considering the whole thing is just totally alien to them... they've just been really chilled."

The equine companions arrived in Worcester on Friday and "very willingly walked across the field into their new stable".

"They've now been introduced to the paddock and met the 10 Worcester donkeys over the fence," Welsby said.

They are now on "teeny tiny meals" and limited grazing as they adjust to their new diet.

"They're so thin they are skin and bone over their hind quarters still and you can't build that up too quickly," she explained.

Once fully settled in, they will be properly introduced to the rest of the herd and "have a life of leisure and luxury", with the sanctuary in time offering supporters the chance to sponsor them.

Welsby admitted to a few butterflies while waiting for the donkeys to arrive, a "surreal" moment after so many months of hard work.

After settling them in, she said: "I did get home and shed a few tears. I was just a bit overcome with emotion."

She thanked everyone who had donated and helped her fulfil her goal.

"I know it was a lot to put them through, and its not ideal, but we've done the right thing for them."

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