Donkey Sancuary

We went to the Donkey Sanctuary that is 5 minutes from our house.  They house 700 donkeys on 160 acres. They take care of old donkeys (they live until they are 50 when in captivity), pregnant and orphaned donkeys (many donkeys get killed on the roads of Bonaire), and special need donkeys (in bred, birth defects and injured). There are also the donkeys that have no problems and are kept safe at the sanctuary.

This little guy is an orphan.  They feed him by bottle every three hours.  When he is weened they will introduce him to the greater population.

I cut up a bucket full of carrots and apples to feed the donkeys.  When I was buying the carrots, the store clerk asked if I was going to feed the donkeys.  It's a regular thing people do that live on and visit the island.  No one else needs 5 pounds or carrots at one time. 

We were not prepared for the frenzy of donkeys looking for treats.

They saw us coming.  We rolled our windows down and in came the donkey noses.  The donkeys get treats from hundreds of visitors and they are not shy about putting their heads right in the window.

There were so many surrounding the car that we couldn't open the doors to get out.

We tried to drive to the observation tower to see the view of the Mundi (wild country side).  We were surrounded on all sides of the car with hundreds of donkeys. 

The treats ran out in minutes.  The donkeys kept putting their noses in the car.  The windows, and outside of the car are smeared with donkey slobber.

Someone raised baby flamingos...which is illegal. The babies didn't have parents to teach them the ways of the world or to fly so they are grounded.  The sanctuary took them in because there was no where else for them to go.  As you can see, even when the flamingos are close and not in the wild, I still can't get a decent picture.