Skeeter

Happy Trails to our first donkey rescues.. Mavis and baby Skeeter have been adopted by Marlene and David Harbeson of Whitewright, Texas. They have been wanting donkeys ever since they purchased their ranch about 5 years ago. They raise honey bees, have chickens and 5 dogs on their 11.5 acres. Mavis and Skeeter are going to be in heaven… not only will they have a great pasture for grazing but also a fabulous barn to get out of the elements when needed. It makes my heart happy to see these two so excited to have Mavis and Skeeter join their family. I can’t wait to see their updates on the Happy Tails page.

Happy life donkeys!!!

Yes, we don’t always have to stick with rescuing dogs, we are a rescue and we can rescue whatever we want. You all know Millie who takes care of so many of our rescues in her home. Medically needy dogs that she works so very hard rehabilitating them and bringing them back to good health.

She has this story to tell about rescuing a couple of donkeys I want to share with you.

“For almost 17 years I had a horse, Jackson and his donkey buddy, Cletus. I rehomed them several years back after my mom died and my brother, who had Alzheimer’s, was getting worst.. I was looking at many trips to CA to be with my brother with really no one to take care of them plus questioning my own morality and what would happen to them if I got too old …( I pictured myself pushing my walker full of hay down to the corral.) I found them a home with a person I knew that worked with the vet I had used for 14 years.. it was heartbreaking but felt I was doing the right thing.

Fast forward a year and I regretted the decision.. my brother had died and I was looking out at my empty corrals realizing I was much stronger with my big friends then without them.

So I started the search for a pair or maybe three senior donkeys that might need a place to live out their lives… that I could help. I started searching online and on Facebook and that is when I really started to learn about “kill pens” “, a place where horses and donkeys are kept until they are loaded on a truck and transported to Mexico to be slaughtered. Many have treatable wounds .. many are in great condition but just unwanted, but all of them in a desperate situation that will cost them their lives.

Most of my friends know I’m a little crazy and this proved it. Wednesday, January 6th, I said “yes” to rescue a mom and baby donkey from a kill pen in Bowie, TX where Border Horse Slaughter Rescue was working to save a group of horses and donkeys..

It was heartbreaking to watch the condition/conditions these animals were in.) This sweet pair were set to be crammed on a trailer and shipped to Mexico to be slaughtered along with many others. The babies were too young to make a trip back to CA with Border Horse Slaughter Rescue and they couldn’t be left in the kill pen for a return trip because they would die.

A kind person was willing to pay their fee but could not home them. So I said I would take the mom and baby. True, they are not seniors. They are young and these two will probably out live me but I knew I could give them a chance at life… Both were very skinny and their coats were covered with large stickers/briars of some sort… the baby is especially bad.. his whole body is just covered in the burs ..

I quickly learned that they can’t be brushed out, and it’s too cold to shave him so I had to cut them out by hand one at a time. The mom had an untreated wound on her leg that needed to be taken care of…. it just broke my heart to watch what was happening there. The baby came down with pneumonia within a week of arriving.. he was seen quickly by the vet and treated.. and now he’s doing much better, he is no longer coughing and breathing has improved and medication continues. It took about two weeks but all the burs are finally off him and he can now be brushed.

Mavis (momma) is doing really well. The wound on her hock is healing and she lets me clean it with no problems.

They are both getting friendlier and love both carrots and Mrs. Pasture’s cookies. So now they are safe and escaped the worst outcome which would have been the slaughterhouse in Mexico”.

Laura watched all of this take place with Millie and the donkeys and reached out to me and said can we just help her with the expenses of rescuing the donkeys? Millie does so much for our rescue I couldn’t see any reason why not. As I said we are a rescue, nowhere does it say it has to be dogs and this time it happened to be donkeys.

Welcome to safety, and Dog Ranch Rescue Mavis the mama donkey and Skeeter her baby.

**Skeeter is 5-7 months old.

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Just an update on Mavis and Skeeter.. for now they’re in their stall trying to stay warm. I’m keeping their water warm by adding hot water multiple times a day.. they have tons of shavings and will have even more this weekend. I added another heat lamp so that makes three shinning down on them.. Skeeter still has signs of pneumonia with a rattle on his left side so I’m not taking any chances with him.. he’ll be on antibiotics another week. He eats in the front stall now away from momma and spends a little time there while I’m cleaning. Once the weather gets better he’ll be moving to the front stall. The video and day time camera pic is this morning the nite time camera pic was Sunday night but you can see how comfortable they are just laying down sleeping.. the other pictures are this past weekend … if the wind would die down a little and we could get over freezing they might get out for awhile…until then snug as bugs in their stall.