Il Rifugio degli Asinelli O.N.L.U.S.

Our first two donkeys has been fostered: it's Milly and Apple, two young lovely donkeys who had left IRDA on the 22nd of June and went to their new home.

Their new "parents" are deeply in love with them already; Milly and Apple are treated like princesses and enjoy their well deserved cuddles. They have a big green meadow at their disposal and have already made friends with the Newfoundland puppy who lives nearby.

The following statement has been produced by The Donkey Sanctuary in response to the press coverage surrounding donkey cruelty in Russia.

Finally the latest foal born at IRDA, Poldo and Silvia’s foal, has found his name: the winner of the contest to find it is Sabrina, and the name drawn at the end of our Grooming Day is Quasar, "the most luminous object in the universe"! And we wish little Quasar a bright future, just like his name.

We are sure many of you remember our campaign about the poor conditions of 700 donkeys living in a milk farm in Montebaducco. Our online petition was a great success and we asked the owners to improve welfare conditions of their animals.

Last week our General Manager Barbara Massa, our vet and his assistant went back to the milk farm to check the overall conditions of donkeys and to meet the owners.

In the blistering heat this summer on the Greek Island of Santorini, thousands of tourists will unload from vast cruise ships and be ferried ashore to a port which leads to the small town of Thira. The options of getting to the town located high above the port are either by cable car or donkey taxi, but because the cable car is quickly flooded by the tourists, a queue quickly builds for the donkeys and mules.

All the 6 donkeys came from our holding base in France who rescued many of them from lives of misery and neglect, now safely here with us they can look forward to a future full of respect and love. These are the last donkeys to arrive at IRDA in Sala Biellese, which brings the total number of donkeys homed with us to 113. Among these last 6 rescued animals, there is our first ever mule!. His name is Marco, he's a handsome brown mule and he's the boss in his group.
Besides Marco, the other 5 donkeys are Philippe, Clarissa, Gilles, Fleur and Jean-Pierre.

Agostino was found abandoned in a farm where several animals had literally starved. He was hungry and thirsty and, of course, angry.

On his arrival at the Rifugio, Agostino was frightened and aggressive. All members of staff experienced his sudden attacks and it wasn't a pleasure, even if it was quite funny seeing how easily our fencing can be jumped by the staff!

Thanks to help from the UK based Elisabeth Svendsen Trust, four of our rescued donkeys Tudor, Costel, Ringo and Gina are receiving the 1st phase of their donkey therapy training. Trainers Robina (Manchester) and Lauriel (Sidmouth), came to Italy In January to train the staff here so that we could start out therapy work. Tudor and Costel both arrived in February 2008 from Romania. they were found abandoned together during the winter by our partners of Save the Dogs.

On 29th January 2010, we rescued two donkeys that were confiscated by Corpo Forestale dello Stato della Valle d'Aosta,station of Valpelline.

Poldo and Silvia were found covered with lice and in very poor condition. Their hooves had not been trimmed and were painfully long and Silvia had problems just walking.

After the plight of the donkeys was discovered the court of Aosta confiscated them because their treatment was so bad. If the authorities had not intervened the donkeys would have died.