Second Donkey Rescue for 2025
In October, we received a call from a member of the public reporting that donkeys were being transported along the Inadi Road towards the Kranskop Road. They were crammed onto the back of a pickup truck and a trailer. The caller said some of the donkeys had fallen, were being trampled, and that there was blood everywhere.
Ross managed to find them first and pulled them over, where they waited for me to arrive. What we saw was heartbreaking. One very old mare, skin and bone and extremely weak, along with two foals, had fallen and were being trampled. We also noticed a tiny foal and a very heavily pregnant donkey among them.
We could not offload the donkeys on that road to help the downers up, and we couldn’t assist them while the others were still packed onto the trailer. We therefore forced the driver to take them to the SPCA. Ross drove in front to lead the way, and I followed behind to make sure they didn’t disappear.
On the way, Ross contacted Greytown VetCross to assist us at the SPCA with assessing the injured donkeys and determining which could not be transported any further.
Once at the SPCA, we immediately offloaded all the donkeys and helped the downers up. Dr Ninke Voights was already waiting for us, and the massive task of assessing the donkeys began. There were a total of 20 donkeys crammed onto a trailer and the back of a pickup truck. The pickup’s sides were not high enough and completely unsafe for transporting donkeys.
We separated the injured and weak animals, two very old hairless and compromised elderly mares, the three mothers with foals, and the heavily pregnant donkeys from the rest. We then checked the paperwork. For donkeys, the only documentation required is a letter from the tribal chief. This often creates problems, as donkeys are bred in rural areas and sold on to Basotho buyers, but very often all visible donkeys are simply rounded up and the letter signed. In many cases, donkeys are taken without the owners’ permission, which is essentially stock theft.
In this case, the tribal chief’s letter was in order, with the required stamps. The driver insisted he was from Bergville and that he was transporting the donkeys for his brother in Johannesburg. I spoke directly to “the brother” and explained that we were holding back 11 donkeys due to pregnancy, injury, and compromised condition. The donkeys had been overloaded, injured during transport, and foals had not been separated from their mothers, resulting in further injuries.
According to the two men transporting them, the donkeys were bought for breeding and farm work in the Bergville area. No clear address was ever given, Bergville or Emmaus rural area was mentioned interchangeably.
We allowed them to reload the nine uncompromised and healthy donkeys after they had been given water and a chance to graze briefly, but not onto the pickup truck. They were instructed to send us photographs of every donkey after offloading, a pin location of where the donkeys were being kept so an inspection could be done, and follow-up photographs two weeks later. We issued a warning for overloading, incorrect transport, and transporting compromised animals.
None of the requested photographs or pin locations were ever sent. We only received a video three weeks later of a mare with a tiny foal.
Losing 11 donkeys caused a huge upset. The driver and his assistant became aggressive, shouting and threatening as is so often the case. We treated open wounds and allowed the donkeys time to rest, destress, and graze.
The next day, we had to corner them one by one to deworm them and treat them for ticks and mange. During this process, as many of these donkeys had clearly been mistreated before. Ross was kicked, and I fractured my wrist.
Sadly, two of the 11 donkeys had to be put down due to injuries sustained during transport: the very old thin mare and the larger young foal. But in the last two weeks, both pregnant mares gave birth to two healthy newborn foals.
Some of these donkeys have already found new homes, while a few are still waiting for their forever families. They make wonderful companions and excellent lawn mowers so please consider adopting a donkey.
By Elise Stoltz
In October, we received a call from a member of the public reporting that donkeys were being transported along the Inadi Road towards the Kranskop Road. They were crammed onto the back of a pickup truck and a trailer. The caller said some of the donkeys had fallen, were being trampled, and that there was blood everywhere.
Ross managed to find them first and pulled them over, where they waited for me to arrive. What we saw was heartbreaking. One very old mare, skin and bone and extremely weak, along with two foals, had fallen and were being trampled. We also noticed a tiny foal and a very heavily pregnant donkey among them.
We could not offload the donkeys on that road to help the downers up, and we couldn’t assist them while the others were still packed onto the trailer. We therefore forced the driver to take them to the SPCA. Ross drove in front to lead the way, and I followed behind to make sure they didn’t disappear.
On the way, Ross contacted Greytown VetCross to assist us at the SPCA with assessing the injured donkeys and determining which could not be transported any further.
Once at the SPCA, we immediately offloaded all the donkeys and helped the downers up. Dr Ninke Voights was already waiting for us, and the massive task of assessing the donkeys began. There were a total of 20 donkeys crammed onto a trailer and the back of a pickup truck. The pickup’s sides were not high enough and completely unsafe for transporting donkeys.
We separated the injured and weak animals, two very old hairless and compromised elderly mares, the three mothers with foals, and the heavily pregnant donkeys from the rest. We then checked the paperwork. For donkeys, the only documentation required is a letter from the tribal chief. This often creates problems, as donkeys are bred in rural areas and sold on to Basotho buyers, but very often all visible donkeys are simply rounded up and the letter signed. In many cases, donkeys are taken without the owners’ permission, which is essentially stock theft.
In this case, the tribal chief’s letter was in order, with the required stamps. The driver insisted he was from Bergville and that he was transporting the donkeys for his brother in Johannesburg. I spoke directly to “the brother” and explained that we were holding back 11 donkeys due to pregnancy, injury, and compromised condition. The donkeys had been overloaded, injured during transport, and foals had not been separated from their mothers, resulting in further injuries.
According to the two men transporting them, the donkeys were bought for breeding and farm work in the Bergville area. No clear address was ever given, Bergville or Emmaus rural area was mentioned interchangeably.
We allowed them to reload the nine uncompromised and healthy donkeys after they had been given water and a chance to graze briefly, but not onto the pickup truck. They were instructed to send us photographs of every donkey after offloading, a pin location of where the donkeys were being kept so an inspection could be done, and follow-up photographs two weeks later. We issued a warning for overloading, incorrect transport, and transporting compromised animals.
None of the requested photographs or pin locations were ever sent. We only received a video three weeks later of a mare with a tiny foal.
Losing 11 donkeys caused a huge upset. The driver and his assistant became aggressive, shouting and threatening as is so often the case. We treated open wounds and allowed the donkeys time to rest, destress, and graze.
The next day, we had to corner them one by one to deworm them and treat them for ticks and mange. During this process, as many of these donkeys had clearly been mistreated before. Ross was kicked, and I fractured my wrist.
Sadly, two of the 11 donkeys had to be put down due to injuries sustained during transport: the very old thin mare and the larger young foal. But in the last two weeks, both pregnant mares gave birth to two healthy newborn foals.
Some of these donkeys have already found new homes, while a few are still waiting for their forever families. They make wonderful companions and excellent lawn mowers so please consider adopting a donkey.
by Officer Elise Stoltz