ABOUT US

An angry vegetable garden owner whose vegetables were being eaten by his neighbour’s donkey led to the establishment of EARS in 2010.

Furious at the destruction of his vegetables, the gardener lashed out at donkey Genevieve with an iron bar which paralysed her face on one side, and partially blinded her in one eye. Her owner asked farm owner and horse lover Jo Sedgwick to help Genevieve and brought her, with her young son Satchmo, to the Sedgwick farm 10km outside of Greyton.

It took several weeks for Genevieve to heal. Satchmo went back to his owner but a year later was surrendered to us and joined his mother. The two are inseparable. And that was our beginning.

In the intervening years, EARS has grown to include not only donkey rescue and retirement, but also the rehabilitation and medical care of equines in the wider community, and the education of equine owners.

We have 15 permanent donkey residents at the Sanctuary, 12 resident horses and a fluid number of horses under temporary medical care.

Our work involves not only caring for our donkey residents but also for injured and ill horses and donkeys in the wider community, which encompasses 5 villages in our Valley. The Valley is home to between 400 and 600 horses at any one time, many of whom are allowed to free graze which makes them vulnerable to traffic and fencing injuries and dog attacks.

Our team, headed by Penny James, spend many hours each day driving from village to village to attend to equines in need.