Socrates is a 30-year-old donkey with health issues being cared for the Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge

The Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge is making an exciting expansion to better care for the senior rescue donkeys who live there.

The farm located near Chase is expanding its barn and infirmary, according to a recent media release.

“This year we are launching the Senior Barn and Infirmary Expansion Project,” said refuge founder Shirley Mainprize, in the release. “It is the next necessary step to maintaining a high level of care for the donkeys who need it the most, seniors.”

The average age of the donkeys at the refuge is 29 and just like people, donkeys develop chronic health conditions that must be managed and treated as they age.

The expansions are significant as it will allow the refuge to better care for them.

READ MORE: More than 100 farm animals moved to safety from South Okanagan wildfire threat

The Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge provides a safe, secure and permanent home for neglected, abused or unwanted donkeys and relies heavily on donations.

“The infirmary has been critical for daily health monitoring, intake quarantine and surgery,” Mainprize said. “Before this was built, if a donkey needed surgery, we would have to load the donkey into a trailer, drive to Kamloops to the vet and spend three to five days there in the clinic for surgery and recovery, and then return home.

“The journey puts an incredible amount of stress on an already sick animal. Now we just call the vet out.”

The senior housing is going to be increased by 2000 square feet and large stalls will be added for continued monitoring of vulnerable donkeys. The interior of the infirmary will be expanded to accommodate more patients.

A 30-year-old mammoth donkey called Socrates has been at the refuge for 10 years. He was recently diagnosed with Cushing’s disease which can cause weight loss and hoof damage. He also has a heart murmur.

It is very important that Socrates has access to an infirmary for special care and medications, according to the refuge.

READ MORE: Dog abandoned and shot in Beaverdell finds loving family

“Every day the herd health staff must pull him out of his herd to provide this specialized care, and then return him to the herd,” Mainprize said. “The whole process sometimes takes up to two hours.”

Mainprize credits two years with no visitors during COVID-19 with the chance to concentrate on developing more infrastructure on the farm for herd health care.

In 2020/21 the refuge was able to fundraise and build a new dedicated infirmary.

Fundraising has been in the works for the new expansion.

“We are grateful to have received a partial grant from the Margaret Haney Fund for Animal Welfare, held at the Vancouver Foundation and awarded by the Shuswap Community Foundation,” Mainprize said. “And the rest? Right now we are working on raising it.”

The Refuge is taking donations and selling t-shirts to help fund the project.

You can find out more online or you can connect with Mainprize at 250-679-2778.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2022