Cottontail
This gentle jenny broke my heart when I saw her in such poor condition. Her legs were all bitten up by flies, her ears had lost a lot of hair, and her scabby nose was sunburned. Nobody was offering to help her, so I felt we had to step up and get her out of there fast.
We could see she was possibly pregnant. If so, she and her baby will receive the prenatal care they need. It was more likely they had taken a baby off her recently. That’s devastating for a mother donkey and she will need time to grieve and heal. We’re thinking of placing her in the baby pen with other mothers and babies to look after.
She was so sweet and friendly when she stepped off the trailer at Skydog. Steve Egner hauled her for us, so she knew she was in very kind hands. She had fly boots on to protect those legs and her ears already looked a little better. We’ll take care of that sunburn and get her a friend right away. She’s beautiful and will be even more beautiful with good nutrition, care, and all the love she needs.
She made me realize we hadn’t saved any donkeys this year for the Oregon ranch and I never want to overlook our long-eared friends. Honestly, the way these beautiful souls are treated in the slaughter pipeline sickens me. We will keep doing what we can to raise awareness for them so more are saved.
She’ll be on of the last we take in this year (2025) until cooler weather returns. When it’s hot, we don’t transport animals. We also need to move some animals out into herds before we take in any more.
Cottontail has a sponsor
By committing annually to a $100/month sponsorship of a mustang or burro, you help us enormously by supporting our existing rescues so we can continue saving more. To learn more about becoming a sponsor and see which animals need them, please click the button:
American Mustangs and Burros Need Your Help
In addition to supporting our work by donating, becoming a patron on Patreon, or sponsoring a Skydog, there are several important pieces of legislation to protect American equines currently moving through Congress. It only takes a few minutes to contact your Rep and two Senators to urge them to support these bills. You can Contact Members of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121, submitting contact forms on their individual websites, or sending one email to all three simultaneously at www.democracy.io
Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2025 (H.R.1661 in the House and S.775 in the Senate). This bill would amend the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly known as the “Farm Bill”. There are several important provisions for animals in that omnibus federal law, including the Cat and Dog Meat Trade Prohibition Act. It is currently illegal to slaughter, transport, possess, purchase, sell, or donate dogs and cats, or their parts, for human consumption. The SAFE Act would extend the ban to equines and shut down the slaughter pipeline that sends some 20,000 American horses and donkeys to savagely monstrous deaths in foreign slaughterhouses every year.
The Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act of 2023 (H. R. 4356) The bill would eliminate the use of helicopters in rounding up wild horses and burros, and require a study into alternative methods for humanely gathering the animals.
See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at US canned hunt ranches and stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs.
A bill from the previous 118th Congress that we hope will be introduced again this session:
Ejiao Act of 2023 (H.R. 6021). To ban the sale or transportation of ejiao, a gelatin made from boiling donkey skins, or products containing ejiao in interstate or foreign commerce, which brutally kills millions of donkeys primarily for beauty products and Chinese medicine.