Providing sanctuary for life to any donkey or mule in need

Welcome to the Donkey Sanctuary (Cyprus) website

Thank you for taking the time to visit our site, learn about our work and, of course, learn about donkeys! I do hope you enjoy the site and will be able to support the work we do here in Cyprus.

We have tried to make the site as easy as possible to navigate. On the left hand side you will find all the information relating to our work and on the right, ways that you can help us. Your visit to this site means a lot to me and if you can make a small donation before you leave it really will make such a difference to our work. We rely almost entirely on donations to care for our 120+ donkeys and to help many other donkeys in Cyprus.

If you have any suggestions for improving this site or do not find what you are looking for, please leave a comment for us as we need all the feedback and help we can get.

If you would like to keep up to date with work at Donkey Sanctuary (Cyprus), please follow my manager updates.

Once again thanks for visiting.

Judy Welsman
European Welfare and Administration Manager

New arrivals Submitted by Jenifer Tucker on Mon, 28/11/2011 - 13:47 Farm update Fortunately, due to our Outreach Programme and more and more donkey owners calling us for advice, we haven’t had any abandoned donkeys this year. Now that all donkeys have to be microchipped, we even tracked the owner of a donkey found wandering near the sanctuary! Consequently, we tend to get donkeys who whose owners no longer want or cannot look after them. » Read more
Georgie II Welfare Georgie II is about 21 years old and, like Kykkos, belonged to a very elderly man – 90 years old! He was also a working donkey but due to his owner’s age, needed a bit more care. His owner asked if we could give him a home and we collected him on 19th January 2012. A little bit more weight and he will be perfect! Kykko Welfare Kykkos was born around 1990 and has been a working donkey nearly all of his life. His elderly owner contacted us asking if we could take Kykkos as the donkey was now too old to work and his owner was finding it difficult to look after him. He has been well cared for and, after his arrival on 21st Dec 2011, is now out of his Isolation period and making lots of new friends! Maramunda Welfare Maramunda and her owner are both quite elderly and feeling the effects of advancing years! Her owner asked if we could take care of 31year old Maramunda and so we collected her on 18th January 2012. Bless her, she has foot problems and arthritis but with plenty of TLC, some medication and a nice rug to keep her warm she is already feeling a little more comfortable. Peropalo Campaign Welfare Donkey Sanctuary (Cyprus) supports the campaign of El Refugio Del Burrito against the cruel use of a donkey in the Spanish Fiesta. You can also support El Refugio del Burrito on its campaign against the cruel use of a donkey in the Spanish Fiesta. » Read more Tom Welfare Sixteen year old Tom was already known to us. Two years ago his owner contacted us asking if we could help sort out a problem with his donkey’s knee. Luckily we could and so Tom came to us for an operation and spent several weeks at Vouni recovering. » Read more Tourist taxi fines bring hope for Santorini donkeys Welfare PRESS RELEASE from The Donkey Sanctuary 13 October 11 International animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary is today celebrating as a new system of fines brings hope of improved conditions for donkeys and mules working as tourist taxis on the Greek island of Santorini. Andrew Judge, The Donkey Sanctuary’s Head of European Operations, explains: » Read more Transport Campaign Animals Angels Welfare The Donkey Sanctuary (Cyprus) is supporting Animals Angels in its campaign to limit the travel time for all animals being transported for slaughter to 8 hours. We have campaigned for years to improve conditions for donkeys and mules transported for meat and we along with many other welfare organisations want to see a limit imposed. Please click on this link www.8hours.eu and sign the petition supporting the limiting of the 8 hour transport rule. » Read more Two working donkeys earn a good retirement Welfare Xenophon was a working donkey in a village near Agros, in the Limassol district. Born around 1992 he was used for working in the fields carrying panniers of grapes and olives for his owner. Unfortunately his owner fell and broke her leg very badly and ended up in hospital. As is often the case nowadays, the lady’s family didn’t live close by and were unable to look after her donkey. Also she was finding it very difficult to get a farrier to trim his hooves and so she asked Donkey Sanctuary (Cyprus) if we would take her donkey. » Read more
Help is on its way! Outreach We often get calls from donkey owners whose animals have a health problem. We try and find out as much information as possible and on this occassion the donkey was very lame. We went with our vet to have a look and sure enough, the donkey had a very painful foot abcess. Poor thing was standing with his foot in the air. » Read more		Little and large?! Rescue A couple of weeks after Jimmy arrived we had a desperate call from the friend of an elderly owner. The owner had gone completely blind after several years of problems and was no longer to look after her beloved donkey that she used for work. The friend and a few other people had been looking after the donkey for her and asked if we could take him. Of course we said we would and off we went to collect him. The one proviso was that we named the donkey Demos after the owner’s husband – no problem. » Read more