DONKEY, DOGS AND CATS ON A BEACH WALK
IT’S going to be a heart-breaking parting for Annerie Wolmarans when she eventually has to say goodbye to Emily, the nine-week-old donkey she has looked after since it was five days old.
Wolmarans, who started intervening in the mistreatment of donkeys many years ago and founded the Makana Donkey Association in 2002, rescued little Emily from certain death in Grahamstown last month.
“I have a register of about 55-58 donkey cart owners. One owner called me and told me about this little donkey whose mother had died. He asked if I could help,” Wolmarans said.
Wolmarans retired as sheriff of Grahamstown in 2016 and lives in Port Alfred, but she made the trek to see the baby donkey.
“When I go there I said, ‘where’s the donkey?’, and he said he had put it in the bush because it looked like it was dying. I found it, it looked dead, but I picked it up and ran to my car and rushed to the vet in Grahamstown.
“The vet said she wouldn’t survive. Her little heartbeat was just 12 beats a minute,” Wolmarans said.
But the little donkey survived after eight days in the vet hospital, and has thrived in the loving care of the Wolmarans household, where she is fed a bottle of warmed milk six times a day and given sliced apple to eat. She sleeps in her own Wendy house and is draped in a blanket for warmth.
Annerie and her husband Wollie take turns giving the donkey its bottle, and as local children have come to know of the shaggy little creature they also pop around and are given the opportunity to feed Emily.
This reporter was also given the chance to feed the little donkey with slices of apple and hold the milk bottle while Emily sucked the teat. It was a treat of human-animal connectedness.
The donkey has fit right in with the Wolmarans menagerie of three dogs and two cats, and the other animals have accepted her as part of the family.
Walks on the beach are a whole other sight to behold, as, when the way is clear, it’s like the doors of Noah’s Ark have opened on dry land, and the animals come rushing out in gratitude. Dogs, cats and donkey all go for a walk on the beach. The cats, Snowy and Blackie, are more cautious, sometimes keeping to the edge of the dune bush, but all thoroughly enjoy the outing.
Roxy the Collie is fixated on sticks, but meekly gives them up to one-eyed rescue dog Rex, while Machingching, another little stray Annerie adopted, is content to sniff around by himself.
When a group of beagles coming from the far end of the beach start getting too close, Blackie runs off into the bush, and Emily, in protective mode, stands between the curious dogs and the frightened cat. But the dogs are placid and run off after their owner when she calls.
Back to the enjoyment of the outing, Emily prances around on the sand.
Annerie feels melancholy rise as she says, “Emily is going to miss the beach. But she’s getting too big and I have to give her up.”
Several animal lovers have offered to adopt her, but first in line were a family with a farm in East London, and Annerie and Wollie are happy she is going to a good home.
The Makana Donkey Association has been instrumental in attending to abused donkeys and helping their owners care for their animals so they live healthy, productive lives in an area where transport of goods by donkey cart is still a way of life.
This year will be the 30th Donkey Carnival in Grahamstown, a showcase for donkey cart owners to parade through the town and be recognised and awarded based on the health and treatment of their animals and the condition of their carts.