Relocation of Donkey Sanctuary Bonaire

Detailed information about the compulsary relocation of our sanctuary, can be found on a separate webpage. Therefore choose ‘relocation’ in the menu above.

4th of July 2010 – jennet put to sleep because of tetanus

What a misarable Sunday…. This afternoon we already had to put to sleep a badly injured jack. And this evening we received a call about a donkey lying ill on the ground in the area

of Terra Cora. We found a terribly ill jennet, who clearly suffered from tetanus. Unfortunately this disease still regularly kills donkeys on Bonaire. The poor animal was completely grown stiff and convulsive, a symptom of tetanus, and was not able to stand up anymore. However she repeatedly tried to get onto her feet. She was lying on an open spot, so she probably had been in the burning sun all day long. This illness cannot be cured and causes a terrible death. So our only option was to ask our vet to relieve her from suffering as soon as possible. Having put to sleep two donkeys on one day, is not an easy job….

4th of July 2010 – jack stuck in fencing

This morning as usual we took care of the donkeys in our sanctuary and did the necessary cleaning jobs. After that it was very quiet, untill around midday we received a call from a lady who reported an injured donkey lying alongside the road. She said the poor animal got

stuck with his leg in a fence. Not a job to deal with on your own, so we had no choice than to close the sanctuary and go over there together. Our apologies to possible visitors who found a ‘closed door’. On the through road near Dos Pos we found a badly injured jack. His leg was so heavily injured and apparantly he had been stuck there already for so long, that a terrible infection and even putrefection was already going on. The jack was not able to stand up anymore and was lying very close to the road. Unbelievable

that he must have been there for days on end, without anybody calling us for help. The three women of us did not manage to lift the heavy jack to transport him to the vet. And as our mobile phone had no signal on this spot between the hills, we decided to stop passing cars and ask for help. However nobody was willing to lend us a hand. Finally one of us went off to search for assistance. Fortunately she found two Dutch gentlemen having a drink nearby who did not hesitate to come along to help. With united strength we were able to load the jack and bring him to the vet at last. He had no other option than to euthanize the donkey. It is very sad that the poor animal had to suffer for such a long time alongside a busy road. He must have been so clearly visible for people in passing cars.

15th of July 2010 – Sorbo gives us lots of cleaning cloths

Daily a lot of cleaning jobs have to be done in our donkey sanctuary. Here for we use the famous yellow cleaning cloths, that of course need to be washed at high temperature at the end of the day because of hygienic reasons. Due to our heavy use, we wear out lots of these cloths yearly. Normally buying a package of cleaning cloths is not a big expense. But for us

each dollar counts and considering the high numbers we use, quite a big cost nonetheless. However in the time coming we do not have to buy any more cleaning cloths. Sorbo, a famous cleaning products manufacturer in the Netherlands, heard that we could do so well with their yellow cloths and gave us a huge pile of these for free. Wonderful! We are very grateful to Sorbo, for with this amount of cleaning cloths in stock we will do for a long time. So Sorbo is not only your helping hand in the house, but also our helping hand in the donkey sanctuary!