Seventeen donkeys have been dumped at a Cumbrian charity in just eight months.
Barnhill Donkeys Retreat, near Shap, has been rehabilitating and rehoming the animals for 23 years – but its owner said she has never seen the level of abuse as she has in recent months.
Linda Gilbert has dedicated her life to rescuing donkeys and said she was amazed at the level of cruelty that was now being inflicted on them.
She said she had never seen anything like it.
She said: “Since Christmas, we’ve had five donkeys come to us who had been deliberately blinded.”
Barnhill Donkeys Retreat is based at the end of a singe track road – and as a result people don’t tend to dump their animals on its doorstep. Linda said.
Instead, they turf them off near a nearby woodland and the donkeys find their own way to the retreat.
Many of those abandoned are victims of poor DIY hoof trimming and as a result are crippled and have to hobble to get to the retreat.
Linda said: “They can barely walk and have to hobble to get to us. It’s the equivalent of someone chopping off your toes and making you walk.
“It’s not illegal but it leaves them in agony – it really is like hacking off your foot.”
In March, a donkey was dumped at the retreat. She could not walk due to the condition of her feet, was malnourished and had lice.
At the time it was the worst case Linda and her team had seen and they alerted the police.
They called the donkey Mary and Linda said: “This donkey has battled on and defied death. We didn’t expect her to survive, but she’s still here and doing well.
“From having both front feet sliced across so she had to walk on the side of her foot, the abscess in her mouth was huge and she was literally starving to death as she couldn’t eat, she had burrowing mites which had destroyed a lot of her skin she had no hair.
“She went through winter like this how this donkey survived is a miracle.
“Three-and-a-half months later, this Mary today out in the field with the others, enjoying the sun on her back.
“Her feet are going to take another year to get to the point she can walk on her sole instead of the side of her foot.
“She is starting to get hair growing back
“But this little donkey deserves a medal for what she has been put through, but has battled on. We are so hugely proud of her.”
