Norman is a very special donkey. The story of how he came to us is, like most of the ones we deal with, a sad tale of abandonment and neglect. Norman lived with a group of another five donkeys whose owner had them in a terrible state of neglect. A vet from Zamora’s (in northern Spain) local government denounced this situation and the animals were relinquished from their owner. They then lived for some time at Zamora’s cattle market stables, where they were to be auctioned. Although Norman had some potential buyers because of his youth, being only two at the time, he was auctioned as part of a lot with the rest of the donkeys he came with, but nobody would bid for older and poorly donkeys like Amparo, Elena or Margarita. It was then when Zamora’s local government decided to contact our association, El Refugio del Burrito to see if we would take the animals and provide them with the care they needed. And that’s exactly what we did. Norman, as most of the donkeys in his group, except for poor Margarita who died despite the efforts of our team and vets, made a full recovery and became a strong healthy donkey. Being so young and fit, he was considered as a perfect candidate to participate in a very special task: providing Donkey Assisted Therapy for Children with Special Needs. After a few months of training, he was ready to begin with this special job. Norman now spends his days with his friend Lucky at Córdoba Zoo where he provides therapy to a hundred children from different schools and associations. Norman is a very intelligent and assertive donkey and loves to take his best friend Lucky’s head collar off when they are resting at the riding arena. You can see Norman if you visit Córdoba Zoo (there is an entrance fee for the Zoo) at the Cuadra Cortijo, and of course, you can visit our many other beloved donkeys free of charge in our Fuente de Piedra Farm.
