When ever we have guests or potential adoptees who come to the plot and spot our drove of donkeys who are quite loud,proud and often pushy to the extreme- the initial response is "So why donkeys? or but why donkeys?"
The tale goes as follows, a young Nicholas Meldau- brought up in the country with farming surrounds witnessed first hand from a young age the abuse,harsh treatment and disregard for the gentle creatures.
It was during those formative years and through witnessing undesirable treatment that Nicholas made a silent promise to one day help the humble ass!
Fast forward 40 years and today Nicholas, Stella and the Woodrock team houses 11 dashing donkeys! When the philanthropic pair moved to Hennops Valley in 2010- the search for donkeys was top priority on the to-do list.The mission to adopt one donkey turned into adopting a whole troop of them when Woodrock saw the state the donkeys were being kept in ,and two months after the donkeys arrived, we were blessed with one of three baby donkeys that would be born over the next 4 months- as three female donkeys were impregnated prior to arriving at the holding.All the males have been sterilized so no more surprises are in store for us!
Bella, Auckland, Faith and the rest of the donkeys namely ; Jack, Fiona, Melanie,Wendy, Wilbur, Mommy, Harvey and Daddy live out their days in a lap of luxury and are extremely jovial and well adjusted to human contact. The babies are exceptionally friendly and often will not let cars drive up the drive without a number of donkey nose kisses on the car windows!
So is Nicholas happy with his life's dream....
"We have had remarkable feedback from people and especially children who have had contact with the Woodrock donkeys and many people are pleasantly surprised at how domestic and pet-like, similar to dogs they in fact are."- Nicholas
"We are truly blessed at Woodrock to have the opportunity to have rehabilitated these wondrous creatures and they have graced our lives with such joy. "-Estelle
Trusting, loving and willing to adapt- donkeys are definitely on the tops in regard to farm animal choice.
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