Rescued Cypriot donkeys could be used to raise awareness

THE OWNER of a British donkey sanctuary which took in two Cypriot foals says he plans to use the story of their rescue to show farmers on the island how the animals should be treated.

John Stirling, owner of the Freshfields Donkey Village in Derbyshire, intends to make a film about the two animals over the next year.

“My effort is to try and film these donkeys working over 12 months and send all that film back to Cyprus to show the Cypriots what can be done and what donkeys can be used for,” he told BBC News Online.

The donkeys were flown to the UK earlier this month after local animal charity Paphiakos Animal Welfare was approached by holidaymakers on the island who offered to extend their help to any donkeys in need of it.

Christine Panayiotou, chairman of the Paphiakos, said animal welfare was a subject every country needed educating in.

“No country can ever be educated enough when it comes to this issue,” she told the Cyprus Mail. ”Let’s keep up the marvellous work.”

Panayiotou said the two three-month foals might also be used in a documentary for SKY television, to be filmed in England and Cyprus.

Stirling’s donkey sanctuary, located in the Peak District, is home of The Michael Elliot Trust charity. Patrons of the Trust include celebrities such as Judi Dench, Richard Attenborough and Chris de Burgh. Charity events raise money to help pay for the animals’ upkeep.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.