Chase donkey refuge needs your help

More than 60 donkeys currently call Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge near Chase home.

Image Credit: Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge

August 06, 2013 - 11:27 AM

KAMLOOPS – You've heard of dog rescues and cat rescues, perhaps even rabbit rescues.

But in Chase, they have a donkey rescue, where more than 60 donkeys have been relocated from threatening circumstances for a home on the range. The Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge is in need of a new barn and money to keep the animals comfortable. To raise money, they are ass-king you to stop by the Donkey Day Cele-Bray-Tion this weekend. On Saturday, Aug. 10 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the refuge will offer children's activities, live music, food and of course visits with the more than 60 donkeys currently at the refuge.

The event is a fundraiser to help cover the costs of caring for the donkeys, which can live past 50 years. In 2013 so far 24 donkeys have been brought into the refuge, which is more than in all of 2012. Donkey Day is the main fundraiser for the refuge and usually brings in thousands of people in June. Due to several complications with organizing the event was postponed to August and scaled back this year, but co-founder Shirley Mainprize says they are still hoping for a great turnout this year as they look forward to how to handle expansion.

The refuge also began a Bray-ve Hearts campaign in July to raise money to help cover the costs of expansions which will help accommodate the growing number of donkeys needing care. The plan was to lease another barn but Mainprize says those plans have fallen through and they are looking at what the expansion will be comprised of.

"The lease fell through," Mainprize says. "We're not sure what expansion will look like now."

The refuge began in 1999 with the purchase of Maximo and his elderly mother Maria. Since then the refuge has been offering a home for the neglected and abused donkeys of Western Canada, though it has only been open to the public for a few years.

"We've been doing this for 15 years, and I don't see us slowing down," Mainprize adds.

The refuge is located just outside of Chase on Ptarmigan Road and is open to the public Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays April through Thanksgiving.

To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca, call (250)819-3723 or tweet @JennStahn.