Some Sad News

19 July 2022

The Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary regrets to inform our supporters of the passing of our beautiful brown donkey Hazel on Sunday, after a 2-day battle against illness.

Hazel showed signs of distress on Saturday morning and our vet, Kate, from Vectis Equine, was immediately called. Kate felt there was a serious situation developing and that Hazel should be transferred immediately to Liphook.

Arrangements were made, but Hazel’s best friend Hannah hates horseboxes and wouldn’t go. Pinto O ‘Sullivan stepped forward, who was happy to travel on the horsebox for the price of a carrot.

On arrival at Liphook, Hazel undertook a series of tests and scans, and it emerged that she was suffering from acute organ failure, specifically her liver and kidneys. We agreed to throw everything we could at the problem, even though we had been warned that there was only a remote chance that we could help the problem. Unfortunately, Hazel’s condition worsened overnight and on Sunday morning the Liphook vets advised us that there was no chance that Hazel could be cured. We made the decision that we never want to make, that the only thing we could do was to put Hazel to sleep. Dramatic things like this can occur with donkeys; Hazel had shown no sign of illness, no irregularities in condition and was happily eating and enjoying being with her friends, only a week ago.

Hazel was an island donkey, just 18 years old, who only joined us 3 months ago from Whitwell. Both of her owners had been taken ill and couldn’t look after Hazel and her best friend Hannah. Both donkeys had settled in well with the Weight and See Herd and news of Hazel’s sudden death has shocked and upset all our staff and volunteers.

We will be taking special care of Hannah, to make sure she is coping with the loss of her best friend, and Pinto arrived back last night, in the cool of the evening, so that he can be with his friends as quickly as possible.

RIP Hazel

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Equine Treatment Centre

by abigail.fox • 7 November 2024

In late 2022, we started fundraising to establish an equine clinic at the sanctuary. Thanks to your generosity, we raised £125,000 from the initial campaign. This is ringfenced to spend on the Equine Treatment Centre. In the summer of 2023, we paused fundraising and undertook a separate feasibility study, using the generous free support of a civil engineer. We used this opportunity to make sure our build plans were making the very best use of your donations and the funds we had raised. We’ve tweaked the initial plan and have planning permission to undertake a project that will greatly support our high standards of equine welfare. We plan to: Repurpose an existing structure to house the Equine Treatment Centre thus reducing construction costs. Construct an equine rehabilitation barn on the site originally intended for the clinic. Create an isolation barn at the site’s perimeter. This will mean we can provide the very best care for equines needing isolation for medical treatment or observation. We will focus first on building the new barns, then move on to repurposing existing structures into our Equine Treatment Centre. The work cannot start until spring at the earliest, when we hope the ground will have dried out and the machinery will be able to move around the site. We need to make sure our precious paddocks are well looked after while the building work takes place.