PEOPLE WHO ARE VIOLENT TO ANIMALS RARELY STOP THERE!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Meet ORLY-a gift of love.

I met Orly the very first time on a Donkey Day many years ago.
I fell in love with her that very moment, she had such a personality and was just too cute, very playful and cuddly, I tried to remember any markings on her, so I would be able to recognize her at my next visit and I even managed to get the nerve up to ask Kyle about her name....ORLY. She had some white shading on her side of the neck, which I didn't know what they were until I met her this year again, it is actually a freeze tattoo. Well when I went back to the DSC a few weeks later, Orly was gone, she and her daughter were placed on a foster farm, so I really didn't know anything about her and only had this one picture of her. I thought of her often though. In the early part of the summer Orly came back to the DSC, I was happy to hear that, and at the same time I was so sad for her, as the circumstances why she returned weren't happy ones. Her daughter had suddenly passed away and according to DSC policy the remaining donkey will be returned. I went to visit her in Halfway Haven, where she spent the first six weeks in sort of a quarantine, she was just as sweet as I remembered her and after her time there she was placed on the special needs side, where she was getting lots of attention and love from us and visitors, she seemed to be doing really well. A little while later she was placed in the main herd, only to return back to the special needs side a week later due to a tendon injury, which placed her on stall rest for a few weeks and now she is still on this side as her recovery is slow. So I got to spend a  lot of time with her and we had lots of cuddles and special times together as she was lonely in her stall. She really is a sweet donkey, very vocal, very affectionate and she can be very assertive all at the same time. I know I spoiled her rotten over the last few weeks, and she constantly checks me out for treats when I am down in the barn, because she usually knows I have some, but even if I don't, she has to make sure I am not hidding them anywhere.
Orly is a grey brown standard jennet that was born in 1989. Like my sweet Buffy, she was one of the original donkeys that came to the DSC in 1991. She spent her short life before the DSC on a donkey breeding farm.  Like my Buffy, she was on the way to an Equine Auction, which meant, that if nobody would take her, she would be sold to the slaughterhouse representatvie. But fate would bring the cute donkey to the attention of the DSC founder Sandra and she and 11 others, including Buffy, were brought to the DSC. 

So as I was working in the boutique on the last OPEN DAY and Cate came by to volunteer, she handed me this big thick envelope from the DSC. I opened it and the first thing I pulled out was the picture...I recognized that sweet face immediately...it was ORLY. With tears in my eyes all I could muster up was  'Oh I love her so' and Cate said "I know". The envelope was a sponsorship package of Orly on my behalf. Cate had added a lovely card, which just made me cry even more and I gave her a big "thank you" hug. WOW, what an amazing gift of love, it just meant the world to me. I not only have an amazing bond with some of the animals but I also have a one of a kind bond with Cate. How blessed am I?

2 comments:

Sharon said...

What a wonderful gift! (I cried too!)

Inger said...

Me too -- cried. Donkeys are so adorable. I live next to the largest donkey rescue in the US and worked there too, but problem owners. They live in TX now and a really nice guy manages the rescue. I will go and visit some time. For now, I listen to them and see them at a distance. I am sooo happy for you, Tina, I can tell how much this meant to you.--Inger