News Archive

Here's Leo just about to have a lovely roll on the ground (video on our youtube channel)

Mocarra with a feeding trough all to herself and her winter coat to keep her warm.

Our volunteers have started their spring cleaning early and have today filled a large skip with debris and broken fences (we're looking at you Bolera!) We hope the clear out will enable us to open up even more areas to visitors and animals alike.

Happy New Year from all of us here at the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary. All the best for the new year and we look forward to seeing and hearing from you all.

Thanks to the volunteers and visitors who came in on Christmas Day to look after all the animals in the donkey sanctuary. Luckily the weather improved and it was a nice sunny day. The donkeys all enjoyed their Christmas carrots and brussel sprouts and our visitors enjoyed a festive glass of Cava.

We spent 150 Euros of our Christmas fundraising money today on dental operations for Flash and Connan (Our giant Andalucian donkey.) Pictured below are Fabio our vet and two fantastic helpers out on holiday who stopped in to help (told you I'd forget your names! email me). The second pic is of our biggest donkey Connan, who was hard to catch but well behaved throughout. Connan may be a giant donkey but really he's a big chicken who runs and hides at the sight of a vet or even just a headcollar.

Our farrier visited today for our regular hoof check-ups. Paloma (pictured below) was very well behaved but Derek decided to run away from the farrier at every opportunity.

Our Donkey Sanctuary Christmas party at the Hotel Rural Almazara was a fantastic evening. Thanks to everyone involved. We raised 2489 Euros, a full breakdown of how we will be using this fundraising money is available in the sanctuary.

Hope you caught the donkeys on Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares last week, Connan, Farry and Woody were all on camera well done if you spotted who was who.

A lovely old mule called Rubi rescued. Update: Rubi is almost totally blind in her left eye and her right eye isn't working very well either. Now that she is settling in we have moved her into our baby donkey enclosure so she isn't bullied by the others.

A young mare rescued from near La Herradura in Granada Provence. Just 3 years old, Estrella has a deformed left hip.

August was a busy month for us here are some of our new additions. We are turning into a petting zoo!

(Left-Right) Henrietta the pig, homed with us from La Noria in Nerja. Billy the goat. Chuleta the lamb rescued from Fuente del Baden near Capistrano. Pablo, rescued from the mountains near Granada.

Today it was Chalkie and Branston's turn to have their teeth done. Our vet came in early before we opened the sanctuary to visitors to talk advantage of the, slightly, cooler morning temperatures. Chalkie was as good as gold and his teeth took only an hour to trim. Branston however was far more troublesome. If you've visited us recently you'll know that Branston is "the bitey donkey" who is almost always in a pickle. It took 3 to 4 hours to operate on Branston's young teeth, two doses of sedation and at some points 5 volunteers just to restrain him!

We started early this morning with a scheduled worming treatment for all the donkeys. The vet also used this time to check all the larger animals teeth for 'picos' (overgrown teeth) and any extra teeth that may need removing.

Our local vet was back in for the second evening in a row this time to trim Woody's giant back teeth. Woody might be our smallest and friendliest donkey but he put up quite a fight. Guess it's not just humans who don't like the dentist. It took us 3 hours (from 6-9pm) and 3 of us to hold on to him, but Woody's teeth are now as good as new.

Flash was causing us some concern over the weekend as he was unable to put any pressure on his rear leg, with both our vets out of town for the weekend we arranged for him to be checked over this evening. We spent an hour and a half assisting the vet as he operated on Flash's damaged hoof. An hour of this time was spent twisting Flash's ears to calm him and allow Fabio to operate safely at the kicking end of a donkey. Flash will need to be kept in isolation in a pen for at least a week while we assess his injuries. Fabio will be coming back tomorrow evening for some donkey dentistry.

On Sunday afternoon we received a call from Laurence at La Parra Restaurant in Burriana***. He had spotted the mare we had be called out to visit days earlier wandering in the road outside La Parra. He managed to get the mare and foal to safety and gave her 5 buckets of water that the poor animal was clearly desperate for. We arrived as soon as we could and found the mare chained up to a tree by her ankle. The owner had clearly been and gone and sadly we had missed him. However we made some more calls and identified the owner, the police will be knocking on his door very soon and we will of course keep an eye on things. ***For those of you who missed the tv show, La Parra, our very own donkeys and the sanctuary featured together on an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.*** Click here for more on Gordon Ramsay's visit to Nerja.

Early this morning we received a call about a mare with an injured leg who was having great difficulty walking. After searching for 20 minutes we found the mare with her young foal in a patch of scrub land close to Burriana beach. Locals informed us that she had an infected hoof and was struggling to walk, one resident gave us a lead on who the owner might be and we will do our best to track him down before her condition deteriorates. When we returned later in the day the animals had been moved by the owner, she will of course remain on our list of animals at risk until the situation can be resolved

Our newest rescue is "Petra" an elderly lady who is already fitting in well with the other donkeys at the sanctuary. She has many sores around her head where she has been tethered too tight. More pics, video and info soon

We were visited today by a group from the "Taller de la Amistad" a Nerja based association for adults with learning difficulties. Although many were scared on arrival to meet the donkeys it was great to see everyone leave with big smiles on their faces. Here's a picture of the group with their adoption certificates.

On the same day we went to visit a local mule who had been reported to us many times by concerned members of the public. Our outreach team have been monitoring this mule for a while now and having been told by many people, including one of our big animal vets, that we would not be able to get the mule to the safety of the sanctuary we finally persuaded the farmer that the animal needed to be taken to the sanctuary and treated for its injury and poor condition. The mule had not eaten for days and the wound on the bridge of its nose was covered in blood and flies. Happily the mule was transported safely to the sanctuary and was seen by the vet within hours. He spent one hour between 18:30 and 19:30 checking the mule over and assessing its condition. He also spent time cleaning a wound on Silver's tail that was caused by her skin cancer. He made plans to return in a couple of days to operate on the mule.

San Isidro is a "Romero" or pilgrimage that takes place every year and shuts down most of Nerja for the day! The streets are lined with spectators and the procession of horses, oxen, carts and carriages, cars, tractors, trucks and floats travels from the centre of town 6km to the Nerja Caves. The whole thing takes about 6 hours and is only really the start of thing as the party goes on and on. Rambo (our goat who thinks he's a dog) was the star of the show, he walked the whole way and got lots of attention. You can see more pictures of the San Isidro procession in our web album, click here to view. Rambo managed to eat most of the decorations on the car though.

After some rain related delays we have picked a name for our beautiful Andalucian mare. We had hundreds of entries for the competition from all over the world and raised nearly 300 Euros so a huge thank you to everyone who entered. The name was drawn from a bucket by the kind folks at www.bluesardine.com here's a nice pic of them making the draw. The winning entry was suggested by Robert Shackleton and the winning name is... Silver. Click here to find out more about Silver and you can now adopt Silver here.

The www.bluesardine.com team, pictured above. Blue sardine.com is the brand new directory for the Axarquia region, so if you're looking for a business, a job or just looking to sell your unwanted stuff for free then please use Blue Sardine as they have kindly pledged to donate 5% of their profits to the Nerja Donkey Sanctuary so please visit their website here. it helps out the donkeys too!

Many thanks to Team Espana for sponsoring our latest t-shirts featuring Connan our rare giant Andalucian donkey. They have been selling really well here at the donkey sanctuary and Team Espana's sponsorship helps us look after Connan's friends as well, like our two baby donkeys, Pinky and Perky, and Bolera pictured below.

Our hard working volunteers have completed a shelter for our locally rescued purebred Andalucian mare. Rescued on the 16th of February just one mile from the donkey sanctuary, she has settled in well and is currently the subject of a 'name the horse' competition hence no name so far. As she is suffering from skin cancer around her mouth and tail we have built her a special pen complete with roof so she can stay out of the sun.

Our volunteers have been working extra hard this last week rearranging, building and securing new fences and pens for the 36 rescued animals who are currently here at the donkey sanctuary. This of course is on top of doing all the things we normally do every day to ensure we continue to give the best possible care to our residents. All our work is only made possible by your kind donations. Click here for pictures of our visitor area improvements as they progress.

Two more abandoned dogs looking for homes, thought to be pointers about 7 months old, in good health currently in foster care near to Nerja. Please email or come in to the donkey sanctuary for more details. We still have 2 of our puppies available please click here.

Here are 2 more puppies looking for a home. They are sisters, about 15 weeks old and were abandoned 5 weeks ago in the La Viñuela area. They are both in good condition, vaccinated, micro-chipped and treated for parasites, heartworm and fleas. They are crossbreed but mainly beagle or similar hound. Please email or come in to the donkey sanctuary for more details. They are currently being fostered close to Nerja but this cannot continue indefinitely as their carers already have 4 dogs.

We have had 5 puppies dumped through our gates this morning, please get in contact if you can rehome 1, 2 or all 5! Pictures here please email or come in to the donkey sanctuary for more details. Update 21/03/07 All 5 rehomed!

Click the link below to read about this horrendous story in the Costa Del Sol News

Group calls for protest over killing of rare burros for gastronomic feast

Our 'big animal vet' had to be called in today as Mocarra was looking very ill and wasn't eating. She has been prescribed treatment, she is eating again and her condition is starting to improve. Mocarra is our oldest resident here in Nerja at 40 years old and you can help us look after Mocarra by adopting her here.

Last night's Valentines dinner at the Hotel Rural Almaranza in Nerja was a fantastic success. Thanks to everyone who turned up to support us, pictures to follow!

Just hours before our charity dinner and dance we were busy out rescuing this pure breed Spanish horse who is well known in Nerja as she has had many owners over the 17 years of her life to date. More details soon. Come and visit the 35 plus rescued animals we have on site in Nerja, we are located just next to the Nerja sign and blue arch in the picture below.

Finally the rain is clearing and the beautiful sunny weather that we are used to in Nerja has returned. Our puddles and rivers of mud have evaporated and our rescued animals are all enjoying the sunshine and looking forward to going out for walks. Please remember we rely entirely on your kind donations to be able to stay open and look after the animals in our care.

It doesn't rain much in Nerja but days of heavy rain created lots of work for our wonderful volunteers here. Thanks to them the sanctuary is drying up and things are getting back to normal, also many thanks to everyone who came in to walk our rescue dogs. So if you're in Nerja and looking for things to do then come down to the sanctuary and walk a dog, donkey or even Rambo the goat (who thinks he's a dog!)

As temperatures dropped and storm clouds gathered over the mountains our volunteers were hard at work ensuring that all the animals in our care would be warm and dry through the night. The dogs were a bit confused by Bolera in her coat but at least she was warm! The dog pen might not look state of the art but having sat inside it it's very cosy! Thanks to Sarah for creating our new sign.

Many thanks to Costa Decking Spain S.L. for sponsoring our last run of t-shirts. If you are interested in sponsoring t-shirts or have any other sponsorship ideas please email us or come down to the donkey sanctuary.

Our volunteers have been working hard to clear away piles and piles of soaking wet hay, a foot deep in places, after Flash decided to help us by pulling a hose into the middle of the donkey's pen and turning it on... all night!

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A note on Malaga Association of Donkey Sanctuaries which the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed under the bottom links bar on the left! - Until Christmas last year we were part of SEPE but organisations grow up and change so we have formed a new charity to enable us to continue our work here in Nerja and the surrounding province of Malaga. We would like to thank Joe and everyone at Burriana Properties without whose financial help we would have been unable to register our new charity, and Del Prado & Partners solicitors who have helped us out greatly in setting up Malaga association of Donkey Sanctuaries (MADS).

The full name of our not for profit charity (MADS) in Spanish is La Asociación de Málaga de los Santuarios del Burro. Asociación sin ánimo de lucro. Número de Registro 7502. CIF número G92826304 Our bank details have therefore changed to reflect the new association.

We rely totally upon public support and any donation, no matter the size is always welcome.

You can donate in different ways, in Sterling or Euros as shown below or using the links on the left you can adopt a donkey and donate securely online via PayPal.

Or you can donate directly by bank transfer with the following details. Please note the change in bank details for the new Association. For details click here and here

Please make cheques payable to Nerja Donkey Sanctuary or La Asociación de Málaga de los Santuarios del Burro. Thank you.

Association account details:-

Banco Popular Nerja No: 0075-1458-25 060-00108-86
IBAN ES3700751458250600010886 BIC POPUESMM

Nerja Donkey Sanctuary is located in the Province of Malaga (Spanish Provincia de Málaga) on the southern coast of Spain on the Costa del Sol. We were recently featured on Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and we care for donkeys (el burro), baby donkeys (el burrito), mules (el mulo), dogs (el perro), cats (el gato), chickens (el pollo), goats (la cabra) and more! So if you're looking for things to do on your holiday in Spain then look no further!

Nerja Donkey Sanctuary and animal rescue centre.