Pequeña's Rescue
It was but a few days ago we went to a neighbouring village called Villanueva de Algaidas. to rescue a mule whose owner was very ill and could no longer take care of her.
The mule's name was Pequeña (little one in Spanish), even when she is a large, respectable lady of 32.
When we arrived where she was, we found a little stray dog beside her; he was undernourished and had no collar or any other identification.
A Home for Portugues
Unfortunately, we keep hearing expressions like credit crunch, financial crisis and so on, reading about their terrible consequences, and we are very well aware of how hard times are for all kinds of families, animal or human. The following case, sadly, is no exception. This crisis is an unavoidable reality, at least for the time being. Stories such as Portugués’ and his owner are an evidence.
Portugués had a harsh, unrewarding life, like that of so many other unfortunate donkeys. He barely survived with his old owner, a man who claimed he cared for him, but had very little to show for it. He had used Portugués until he was no longer fit for work and lately, he merely made him spend his days tied up, with little food, a set of deformed hooves caused by negligence and his body covered in scabs as a result of allergic reactions to insect bites. Then, a young woman noticed his plight and decided to come to the rescue.
Nolvi... the Forgotten Princess
Our latest rescue has nothing nice or tender about it. It is simply one of those stories we would choose not to tell, one of those stories no words can make softer, because they emanate sheer pain.
Nolvi was a very unlucky donkey, a forgotten princess. She belonged to some gypsies who worked in the meat trade business. We do not know much about her life with them, but taking a look at her, one can tell it was not an easy life.
Terrance needs patience and love
Meet Terrance our latest rescue. He is a young, strong and determined donkey that was found abandoned near Los Barrios in the province of Cádiz. It was at the dog pound of this municipality, that he has been taken care of, until we have been able to rescue him.
His carers assure us that he seemed a really placid donkey at first... Bit by bit, his true, determined nature started to show, and he became the leader of the pack at the pound!
From Cuenca with Love
This is a love story; one of those love stories with a bittersweet ending we often hear about. But never mind how often you do hear them, they make your heart soften each and every time. Once upon a time, there was a man, a man and his beloved mule.
Navarra is her name; chestnut and ginger and brown and striped is she. A beautiful mule.
Platera
As you can see the number of donkeys at El Refugio keeps increasing.
Our latest rescue is Platera. She arrived not ten minutes ago from the neighbouring village of Humilladero.
Platera lived with her loving owners who had no other choice but to move to a different part of the country, and could not take her with them. That was the reason why they relinquished her to us.
Donkey Ears
We are glad to introduce you to Nila, the latest member of our great donkey family!
If there is something characteristic about a donkey's physionomy that's its ears; Nila can't deny she's a donkey through and through... She has the biggest ears! And we love it!
She comes from the province of Cádiz, where she was well taken care of by her owners. It was them who decided to bring her over, because she has laminitis and they wanted her to have the best possible care. Her laminitis is not very serious and we will make avery possible effort so she gets a lot better.
Introducing our latest rescue, Kiyo!
Kiyo is such a gentle giant... An andalusian donkey with an extraordinarily nice and calm temperament.
He comes from La Peza, a village in the province of Granada, where he used to live in a loving home. His owners took really good care of him, but are now too old to provide for him. That's the reason why they decided to look for a nice place where he could have the nicest possible retirement... and their choice was us, El Refugio del Burrito!
A new start...
With the New Year, a new life has also begun for some donkeys and mules; the very first ones to join our big family in 2012.
From Almería in South-Eastern Spain, three animals have just joined us. They are Juan, Andrea, Negrita, Rosy and Poppy.
Here's a photo of them and some information on how they came to join us here at El Refugio.
King of the Road
We are glad to introduce you to “Rey” (Spanish for “King”), the latest resident at El Refugio del Burrito.
Although, to be honest, we still don’t know for sure if he will stay with us... and truth be told, we don’t know his real name... I think this is a bit confusing, isn’t it?
OK. Let’s shed some light onto this story:
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