Longhopes Donkey Shelter

Our Shelter, located in Bennett, Colorado, is a non-profit Corporation registered in the state of Colorado. Our goal is to provide permanent homes for donkeys that would otherwise be neglected, abused, or destroyed for meat consumption overseas.

Healthy donkeys are available for adoption. Physically neglected donkeys are retained for rehabilitation (See E.A.R.S. program) and donkeys that are unable to be adopted due to age or infirmities remain at the Shelter permanently (see Guardianship program).

The average donkey remains at the Shelter 6 months and it costs the Shelter approximately $1.92 per day in operating costs.

Like all other species, donkeys are overproduced either because people refuse to incur the cost of castration, or don't understand that jacks have a better life as geldings or thoughtlessly desire to experience "the miracle of life." However, once born donkeys often outlive their owners interest, finances and physical resources. Consequently, more and more donkeys become homeless.

To reduce this problem, Longhopes does not breed or allow jennets to be adopted for breeding. Adopters seeking a foal are encouraged to adopt from the Bureau of Land Management, which always has feral foals or pregnant jennets needing homes. Further, all jacks are castrated before leaving the shelter. An uncastrated jack is not a suitable pet and can be dangerous around other equines.

As part of our mission, we believe it is not enough just to save donkeys from slaughter, if we don't ensure them a safe and healthy new home. Therefore, we conduct on-site pre-adoption inspections and we continue to monitor the placement for a full year. Further, years of experience have taught us that donkeys are not horses and they need to live with other donkeys. Consequently, we normally only adopt our donkeys in pairs, or as companions to other donkeys.

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