Donkey raffled for €5 is saved by volunteers
By Maurice Garvey
A POOR donkey that was raffled off for a fiver and abused in a widely shared social media post, was saved by animal rescue volunteers in Clondalkin.
Footage from the post shows the donkey being whipped by a grown man in the Cherry Orchard area, as the person videoing the animal’s misfortune, cackles and encourages the man to ‘give you a boot now and you’ll know all about it.’
Donkey saved by volunteers
Tips from the public surrounding the treatment of the donkey were made to My Lovely Horse Rescue, and on Sunday, they managed to track down the donkey.
“We have known for about a week and were out looking for him. On Sunday, a resident saw it being dragged down a road in Cherry Orchard,” said a MLHR volunteer.
“The person recording it thought it was funny. At one stage the donkey ran onto the road and nearly got hit by a car. We saw screenshots of the raffle for €5, which is the lowest price we have seen.”
A group of volunteers drove around on Sunday for up to six hours in a desperate attempt to track the animal, eventually discovering ‘Mac’ in Greenfort, Clondalkin.
“He was basically standing in rubbish, tethered, no access to water and couldn’t reach the grass.”
Rescued Donkey
Gardai in Ronanstown were contacted and provided assistance at the scene, prior to the donkey being transported by horse box to sanctuary at the MLHR farm in Kildare.
The Echo understands Mac is being cared for in quarantine at the farm and is expected to make a full recovery.
MLHR would like to thank residents for their support.
“People are fed up. They might be too afraid to speak out, but anonymously, they will report abuse. If this grown man is willing to do this to Mac in public, it is frightening to think what goes on behind closed doors.”
More on the story in this week’s newspaper.
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