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AN ANIMAL RESCUE charity in Kerry managed to save a donkey that was stuck in deep floodwater today.
In the early afternoon, founder of Animal Heaven Animal Rescue Suzanne Gibbons posted a desperate plea for help on its Facebook page, saying a donkey was stranded in the water in Kilorglin and she needed a boat and some men to help.
She had been contacted for help by the donkey’s owner after the storm blew down a gate in the animal’s field and he escaped and got into trouble.
Not long afterwards, she confirmed she had a boat and, along with two local men, she reached the donkey and they managed to tow him back to the shore.
Back on dry land, everyone was delighted about their success – particularly the donkey which smiled for the camera:
“Never say something can’t be done, just do it. Declan and Mike were beyond brave. So many people told me ‘don’t do it, it can’t be done, you can’t swim, you’ll get killed. These two men just said ok girl, let’s give it a go,” Gibbons said in a Facebook post afterwards.
The donkey, which has been named Mike after one of his rescuers, is now dried, has been given some lovely hot mash to eat and is wrapped up all cosy at the AHAR centre. A vet has already been to see him and he has been started on a course of antibiotics to prevent pneumonia.
He will be going back to his owner once he is fully recovered and the storm damage in his field is repaired.
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Delighted to see this article, much needed publicity, highly recommend all readers to check out the foundation AHAR, they very regularly come close to financial collapse and are desperate for donations, this woman is a marvel! Not plugging, not a friend of mine, just never seen work like it, scan the Facebook page and see!
Just donate food/bedding/straw/hay, directly and at least you know the animals are getting it!
Great job, lads. Well done.
Fair play to them..
Best story of the evening.
That donkey looks well chuffed with himself. The big happy head on him : )
Great work done by that animal charity every day.
Heartwarming
Got something in my eye.
The power of human compassion :)
Great Story journal.ie. Would warm the cockles of your heart.
Is the donkey really smiling? That’s lovely hahaha I feel happy for him. Good job!!!
that’s what I thought. looks like it’s having a great laugh with the rescuers.
Bravo all round.
Animals are usually good swimmers so the current must have been strong (wonder how he ended up there)
Anyway.
Lovely to see him back in the manger.
And all of the worlds problem’s, this has done me heart good!
If anyone is shopping on Amazon, use this link, as animal haven animal rescue will get a donation from Amazon when you shop, it won’t cost you anything :) http://on.ahar.ie/azuk the guys at ahar do fantastic work :)
That link now seems to be broken…how embarrassing! I’ll try find one that works!
Don’t see many donkeys in the countryside anymore.
Great to see one being well looked after well done.
AHAR do great work unlike many of the so called animal charities which I won’t name. AHAR actually rescue the animals and care for them impeccably.
You will always have begrudgers it’s an Irish trait – keep up the good work!
A good news story, where are the negative comments?
What great news.
And only one moaning troll.
Happy days!!
Very nice, good news for a change
Well done Suzanne! So proud of you my friend. Hope the donkey is getting spoiled and give Max a big hug from myself and Alan ;-)
Great to see!
AHAR are doing a great job- it seems Susan has a lot of enemies after her criticism of the ISPCA when she worked there!
The ISPCA in Tralee has a dreadful reputation for putting animals down while AHAR don’t – I had dealings many years ago reporting animal cruelty to the ISPCA and they seemed more bothered about looking good on TV than actually trying to save animals!
I know a volunteer at AHAR and she said AHAR are wonderful!
Seems some people have got their noses out of joint because Susan Gibbons is not afraid to dish out criticism of next to useless organisations like the local ISPCA who have a conveyor belt of animals waiting on death Row!
Fair play to Susan- it’s great to see people that REALLY care saving animals lives instead of money and power hungry muppets that care more about hiding their own faults than actually caring for animals! !
She never worked in ISPCA or KSPCA, someone is telling porkys
She has never worked for the ISPCA or any of the SPCAs in Ireland.
Also there is no ISPCA in Tralee. There’s no ISPCA in Kerry. KSPCA are a separate body.
The KSPCA so- the one with the Yorkshire man in charge- I rang them over an animal welfare issue involving 5 dogs being kept in appalling conditions – I spoke to Susan Gibbons – not a name you forget! Possibly 7+ yrs ago – she was highly critical of how the KSPCA operated and how many animals were put to death, she said they didn’t enforce things properly and seemed very genuine! My son’s partner is doing a veterinary assistant course and is on work placement in AHAR in Castleisland – she loves animals as we do and said the animals are treated very well there, she has fostered a puppy that was nearly dead after being rescued – I don’t tell porkies – I may have my organisations mixed up and for that I apologise – I don’t know Susan personally but had many discussions with her at that time via the phone! In Ireland something like 90% of rescued animals get put down- AHAR don’t do that! I have 3 dogs and 2 cats- all rescued from different sources- I am passionate about animal welfare as are all my family and anyone that doesn’t like Animals I simply wouldn’t trust!
Great to see something like this happening! Well done folks, and fair play donkey!
Fair play to all of you for doing such a very kind deed.
Yet another fantastic rescue by Suzanne Gibbons and Ahar. Its sad to see the usual naysayers doing their best to bring down an animal rescue that does so much good. Ahar has also stepped up and put their own donations the line on more then one occasion to help out other rescues who have run into financial difficulty, and isnt that the way it should be ? Keep up the great work Ahar and ignore the begrudgers, they aren’t worth your time. Animal welfare in this country needs less bitching especially from those involved in rescue and more people like Suzanne Gibbons who just gets on with saving them.
Maybe she should make accounts public and stop banning ppl who ask reasonable questions about the animals and money on her facebook pg. and calling them haters. what is she trying to hide is what I want to know.
mileystongue, your off the wall libelous comments have about as much credibility as your fake profile.
Not gonna lie, having partaken in a little green consumption this eveing, the first photo of the donkey had me in histerics.
Viva las donkey!
Well done to all. Lovely end to this story
Well done AhAR .i have supprted this group financially and with helping in supermarkets bagging gricerys etc. Tjere is a page i guess suppurted by the two nastys on here that tear down,suggest and generally guess that Suzeann steals the money. When i contacted the oage for proof they couldn supply any. SO MY QUESTION IS. WHY SHOULD A WOMAN WHO SAVES INNO ENT ANIMAL LIVES FRIM CRULITY AND DREADFULL CONDITIONS AND CARE FOR THEM SURRENDER HER FINICIAL RECORDS ? AND THE OAHE WHO SLANDER HER,KNOCK HER DOWN DONT HAVE TO SHOW PROOF? Nasty bunch of jealous people with nothing better to do. All u have to do is go and see for yourself and help out.
You are seriously asking why an animal rescue should surrender their financial records? THEY ARE A REGISTERED CHARITY THATS WHY
A fool and their money is easily parted, looks like!
Lorna you have never contacted the page.
Over the years, I have arescued, saved, and re reunited animals awith their carers it’s not easy. People who neglect their animals are beyond *. You can only do what you can. There is no official support there to help. It is very expensive to care for an animal especially if it gets sick. Moral of the story…I’m still doing it. But it’s hard
Crying …….yayyyyyyy
Great story, well done to the people who did the hard work, wonderful to see humanity in action.
Sorry about spelling silly phone
Everyone loves a happy ending :-) Well done everyone involved.
Also many Thanks to AHAR for all the great work they do. Donations can be made on their website under AHAR/support they are always short of funds as they rescue so many animals If everyone could give just a few euro it would have such an impact, vets bills paid in advance, hay bill up to date, feed bill up to date etc.please show your support even by liking their Facebook page .
What exactly are you saying, Stephen?
Possibly Stephen doesn’t know Pamela,he has difficulty in even remembering which way round his name goes..
Was no one looking after the donkey before the field got flooded? The same with other farmyard animals?
If you zoom in real close the donkey looks like Gerry Adams
Full of protein..
Suzanne Gibbons runs Animal Heaven Animal Rescue which is run on donations if you would like to make a donation this is the link http://ahar.ie/support
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