A virtual day out with The Donkey Sanctuary

On Easter Sunday, people will be able to catch up with the Sidmouth donkeys and mules by watching a series of live Facebook broadcasts from The Donkey Sanctuary.

For the first time ever, the international animal welfare charity will be bringing its visitor experience to the virtual world for a day of donkey interaction. Starting at 10am, viewers will be able to see how donkey-facing staff at the sanctuary are continuing to provide the highest level of care to their resident donkeys during this most difficult of times.

‘Sanctuary from your Sofa’ promises to be a day of virtual visitor experiences, following the life of the resident donkeys and the staff who care for them, with six 15-minute broadcasts throughout the day.

Highlights include meeting the main herd of around 50 donkeys in the heart of the sanctuary at 10am, before heading out to visit some of the Adoption donkeys in their paddocks at 11am. Then it will be time to call in on the donkey-assisted therapy donkeys at 12pm, as they enjoy some enrichment activities.

At 2pm, it will be time to meet some of the long-haired giant Poitou donkeys, before taking a tour of the sanctuary with Ponk the donkey and his groom at 3pm. The day ends at 4pm as viewers catch up with staff preparing the medications for the charity’s older donkeys.

Maxine Carter, Farm Manager at the Sidmouth sanctuary says: “We wanted to create a special day for all those people who are missing their ‘donkey fix’.

“We hope that our regular visitors, supporters and those who have not yet visited the sanctuary will enjoy finding out more about our work, while seeing how our resident donkeys are cared for during this unprecedented time.”

Each live broadcast on Facebook will be led by the charity’s grooms, who spend their time caring for the donkeys at the Sidmouth sanctuary.

To find out more, and to how access the live ‘Sanctuary from your Sofa’ broadcasts, please visit The Donkey Sanctuary’s website: https://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/