SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — On a 172-acre former dairy land outside San Angelo, thousands of donkeys from the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue are housed. Owner Mike Myers shared how the facility got its start.

"The donkey rescue began because of my wife Amy bought a donkey on the internet named Izzy," Myers said. "Izzy's still here; she's over here by the office. She got Izzy as a companion to an old horse she had. We never had donkey experience, never had a donkey, never been around a donkey. Izzy was just incredible, kind of like this little thing over here. Friendly, just a hoot to be around."

After getting Izzy, the couple started to realize that other donkeys in the area weren't being treated fairly, had a difficult temperament or had a fear of people. The couple decided to buy other donkeys and rehabilitate them. They went from one in their backyard to more than 20, and that's when Myers knew they needed a plan.

From that came the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, which has grown from one donkey to around 4,000 across the country. Mike explains that his biggest job is to make sure "the money is in the bank" as running an operation like this can be a great task, but no matter what, the donkeys need to be taken care of and employees need to be paid.

The rescue operates on an annual budget of about $10 million to 12 million with no government funding. They get some of their funds from adopting out rehabilitated donkeys, online adoption sponsors and donations.

"I have a donkey. He is 45 years old. His name is Joe. I've had him for 25 years now," Myers said. "I ran everything past Joe. Inflation … I ran it by Joe, you know what he told me? He doesn't care. He still wants to eat, he still wants the vet to come out, he still wants his hooves trimmed — he doesn't care. Rescues got to operate."

The rescue always needs volunteers. One way to support them is by taking a tour, and if you're lucky, you might get a cuddle from Tap the donkey.

News Source : https://www.conchovalleyhomepage.com/news/local-news/peaceful-valley-donkey-rescue-owner-shares-organizations-origins/