OUR LITTLE DONKEY
Adrienne Child’s hear t went out to the lonely, tethered animal – but would she manage to rescue him in time?
Ifirst noticed Sauvé last October on a farm which we pass by when out for our run. He was tied up with a rope around his neck and the rope was secured to a stake.
I decided to ask his owner if I could have him as a companion to our horse, Henry, who was alone because our 30-year-old pony had died.
When I got home I cycled to see the donkey and the farmer who owned him, and agreed to buy him for €50. I then noticed that Sauvé was a stallion, and asked the farmer if he was easy to handle. He reassured me he was. The farmer said he would walk him to our field the next day. I felt so pleased because Sauvé needed rescuing. He was very thin and lonely.
But on my way home I met our French neighbours and told them about Sauvé. They expressed concern that he could be dangerous.
That night, reading about stallion donkeys, all the information advised against having one unless for breeding purposes.
There was a chance I could be on my own with him and we have two young grandchildren, so I rang the farmer to tell him I wouldn’t be able to have Sauvé. He was very accepting of my decision.
I then tried to put the little donkey out of my mind and would just call “hello” as I ran past him. As winter approached he was still there, tied up by the neck with a bale of black “hay” for food and a bowl of water. I contacted several animal rescue centres and a donkey sanctuary, but nothing was done.
Finally, on January 13, I said to my husband David that we would stop this time instead of just running past. Thank goodness we did. The poor creature was skin and bone.
I found the farmer, who expressed surprise at the state of the donkey and agreed we could try to help him. We went home, got a rug and some pony nuts, hay, carrots and water. A vet came next day and gave him an intravenous “tonique”.
I visited Sauvé four to five times a day giving him pony nuts, carrots and stale bread and gradually introduced soya. I talked to him, hugged him and gave him all the love I should have bestowed on him in November.
He had two more visits from a vet, and four of our English friends joined forces and came to help lift him to
I thought he was going to die. I was heartbroken and ashamed
his feet – each time he lay down, he had no strength to get up unaided.
His health deteriorated; on the Tuesday he went down and despite four men trying to lift him he could not support himself. I thought he was going to die. I was heartbroken and so ashamed of myself for not taking him in November.
On Friday morning, the “team” managed to get Sauvé to his feet. What joy we all felt!
The weather was changing. Rain was forecast and as he was up and mobile some of the time, we could not be sure that he would lie down in the makeshift shed we had made. So the decision was made to bring him home.
On January 19 we took our flat-bed trailer to the farm, placed two straw bales at the end of it and led Sauvé over to the bales. He stepped on to the bales and on to the