Keeping donkeys as pets

Written by Patrick Middleton, June 2006

Couples…

Some time ago Tony and Chris Jones invited a young couple – hitherto unknown to them – to share their home in Plascassier. Recently Patrick Middleton went along to see how things were working out

As most people know – well, these days maybe it’s safer to say as some people know – Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Queen Victoria, on her visits to this area in the latter years of her life, used to enjoy driving herself in her own donkey-cart. During the First World War donkeys did sterling service at the front and are deservedly commemorated on the recently inaugurated memorial to military animals close by London’s Hyde Park. The days are long gone when they were essential for hard work on farms and elsewhere but they still find their uses. Just recently a Taliban would-be suicide bomber was seized in Afghanistan as he led a donkey laden with explosives towards a police station. In much of the world asini domestici – to use their Latin name – are in retirement but they are becoming increasingly popular as pets.

“Affectionate and loyal”

When back in the Eighties Clive Raymond, the Brit who was for many years Marketing Director of Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, told me he kept a couple of donkeys at home it seemed rather eccentric. No longer. “We’re not eccentric, no way!,” exclaimed Tony Jones who with his wife Chris shares his home in Plascassier with Lucinda and Thomas Edward, two engaging miniature mokes. “Both in France and among country-dwellers back in the UK more and more people have donkeys.” How did the Jones enter the world of donkey keepers? Explained Chris, “We were born, brought up and got married in mining communities in South Wales. We had nothing to do with donkeys in those days but we both liked to have animals around. We came to France – to be brief – some eight years ago after both of us had had serious bouts of illness. We’d spent holidays here and it seemed a good place to spend the rest of our lives and it’s a wonderful place to host our three children and our grandchildren.”

So how did the donkeys get in on the act? Tony shrugged: “We’ve always had dogs but we thought we’d like another kind of animal companion to add a bit of variety to our daily round. I’d heard about donkeys, we had plenty of space and so we got one. That was a mistake. Getting just one, I mean. Our first donkey was quite a big fellow and he hated being alone, as they all do. You have to have a couple or you get endless braying. Well, our first donkey got happily settled into a refuge in the Dordogne and then we bought Lucinda and Thomas Edward. We all get on very well together and that includes Max, our lively Yorkshire-Dachshund cross.” So what’s the satisfaction in having donkeys? “They’ve had a very bad press, you know. To start with, they’re not stupid, far from it. They’re affectionate and loyal. First of all, to each other. They hate to be apart. Secondly, to their owners. Once they get to know you you’ve got friends for life.”

“Time and space”

What advice would Tony give to anyone thinking of taking a couple of donkeys? “To begin with, make sure you’ve got the time and the space to look after them properly. Each donkey needs about one acre of land and it’s best to have two separate areas for grazing so that one can be left to recover while the other is open to the animals. Then you have to decide what sort of donkeys you want. These miniatures are, as you can see, very attractive. There’s a wide range of colours available – there’s even a pinkish donkey, I m told, but I wouldn’t really go for that. As to sex, you can have two mares, two geldings or, as we chose, a boy and a girl together. Lucinda’s been sterilised but Thomas Edward’s a randy fellow and pays her a lot of attention. Actually, it’s pretty obvious that she’s in many ways the dominant partner. When they’re feeding she’ll sometimes shove him out of the way and if she doesn’t want him in the shelter she’ll make it clear to him. But they’re an affectionate couple and they’re also very attached to us.”

What’s involved in donkey maintenance? “Obviously,” pointed out Tony, “a certain amount of time and a certain amount of money. Food, first of all. Their basic diet is hay – clean hay – and they need plenty of clean water. They’ll eat some other things from time-to-time. Our two enjoy apricots occasionally, but we’ve discovered they loathe strawberries and cabbage. Be very careful about what they eat, though. Obesity in a donkey can be fatal so just don’t let it happen. You’ve got to keep an eye on their coats – they moult once a year – and give them a good brushing and combing from time to time. You’ve also got to look at their hoofs to make sure they’ve got nothing stuck there and at their legs to check they’ve not got scratches and bruises. You need to get a vet in at least once a year to give them a medical, as you could say – you have to find a specialist and we use the vet from the race course in Cagnes-sur-Mer – and then the farrier comes in to trim their hoofs. They have to be vaccinated against tetanus and equine flu every year and to be wormed regularly. And – this being France – there’s a bit of donkey bureaucracy to deal with. They have to have individual identity cards and be chipped.”

“A lot of pleasure”

Taking on donkeys, I concluded, was not something to do lightly. “That’s true of all animals,” said Chris. “But remember donkeys can live a long time – thirty to forty years, even more. You need to think about their future. We hope our two will stay with the family.” As Lucinda and Thomas Edward trotted away towards the bottom of their paddock Tony watched them with obvious enjoyment. “They do give you some work but they give you a lot of pleasure as well.”

There’s a mass of donkey info available at www.donkeybreedsociety.co.uk and at www.rspca.co.uk; the Donkey Sanctuary has an excellent video – Basic Donkey Care – available from the Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, Devon, EX 10 0NU UK. Price £5. And if you want your info from – er – the horse’s mouth you can call up Tony Jones (see http://www.rivierareporter.com/content/view/637/111/).

From Reporter Issue 116, July/August 2006