Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

The closeness of these calm and gentle donkeys is of great benefit to these children in many ways, from riding and driving, to touching, cuddling and talking to them. The donkeys will accept any kind of attention and seem to understand the needs of the children, which makes them ideally suited to this work.

The donkeys are all chosen from The Donkey Sanctuary, our sister charity, and great care is taken in their selection. They must be healthy, placid, obedient and above all they must enjoy human company.

At each centre, there are between 12-15 donkeys. Usually six donkeys per day are worked and this has been found to be ideal; each donkey does enough to remain fit and interested and not so much as to get tired and bored.

The donkeys have proved time and time again that they, too, are very special individuals as are the children with special needs who come to the centres.