The Donkey Sanctuary recently had their hands full when a pregnant donkey was surrendered to them.
Unable to care for her, the previous owner decided to surrender her just days before she gave birth.
Under the caring wing of the sanctuary, she gave birth to Ben, an adorable little donkey in a white coat.
Sadly, the moment she gave birth to Ben, she rejected him and refused to nurse the little thing.
Little Ben spent the next two days crying out loud, calling for his mom. The staff at the sanctuary was heartbroken to see him like this and they did their best to comfort him. As the behaviorist working at the sanctuary said in a video:
“Our staff were feeding him throughout the night. He had to have bottles every four hours, getting that food into him. But also handling him, training him.”
Poor little Ben had no idea how to behave or act like a donkey, with no mom to show him how to be a proper little donkey. So the volunteers did their best to train him. As they mentioned:
“He had no idea who he is.”
The behaviorist from the sanctuary, also named Ben, came up with an amazing idea on how to properly raise little donkey Ben. They’ve recently rescued a female donkey named Jingles.
Jingles already had a baby of her own back in her old home, so the staff hoped she’d know how to properly care for little Ben. But once they introduced them, Ben seemed a bit overwhelmed… As said in the video:
“So we brought here in. And you could see Ben was terrified. Every time she went towards him, he went, ‘Oh no’ and ran off.”
It took a couple of hours before Ben finally warmed up to Jingles and from that moment on the two started looking after each other.
All of Jingle’s mother instincts immediately came back and she started teaching little Ben how to be a happy little donkey.
Every time he became a little bit too excited, she would gently boop him almost as if she was telling him, ‘ok, calm down’.
Jingles gave little Ben the confidence he needed, and he even started interacting with other donkeys in the sanctuary.
Today, Ben is a full-grown donkey who still enjoys his life to the fullest at The Donkey Sanctuary. As Ben the behaviorist, also shared:
“His behavior is now so good, you wouldn’t know that he was an orphaned foal. He has great friends and donkey companions that he’ll probably stay connected to for the rest of his life, in fact.”
Well, I’m more than happy that little Ben ended up in this sanctuary. The kind volunteers were able to provide him with the best life possible, although he was rejected by his mom.
From a crying baby donkey to an independent grown donkey, Ben truly turned out to be a lucky little thing!