When Diane Parnell woke up one morning to find 25 dead sheep on her Hunter Valley property, she was devastated.
The wild dogs had been around for years, but that night’s attack was the worst.
“They just knocked them down, they killed them, they didn’t eat them, they didn’t tear them to pieces or anything, it’s just a sport for them.”
Mrs Parnell woke up at night to check on the sheep, invested in cameras to monitor them and even tried alpacas to keep the dogs away.
“And the dogs took the alpacas.”
Diane Parnell hasn’t seen a wild dog in months since she bought a protective donkey. (ABC Upper Hunter: Amelia Bernasconi)
The savior was an animal perhaps best known for its stubborn nature, but donkeys have an incredible ability to bond with other livestock and protect them from predators.
“She’s lovely… [the sheep] follow her as if she were her mother,” Mrs. Parnell said of her donkey.
“If I hear anything I’ll go out at night with my torch, but I’m more relieved because I’ve been here at night when a fox is around and he’s got the sheep all together, watching them.”
They are worth their weight in gold
Calm donkeys like Ms Parnell’s are hard to come by in New South Wales.
Hers comes from the Last Stop Donkey Program (LSDP), a Hunter Valley charity that works to handle and rehome wild donkeys as guardians.
Brooke Purvis founded the program in hopes of helping wild donkeys and farmers. (ABC Upper Hunter: Bridget Murphy)
LSDP founder Brooke Purvis said she knew there had to be something more that could be done with donkeys after learning the extent of how they were slaughtered in the Australian outback.
“In the stations, donkeys are really classified as wild because they take the main feed of livestock – for farmers they have no value and gathering them is quite interesting, so there are a lot of collection costs.
“They are too useful to be shot.”
Donkeys have an incredible ability to bond with other livestock. (ABC Upper Hunter: Amelia Bernasconi)
So Mrs Purvis started learning how to break donkeys and support local farmers to find her confidence again.
“There was a lot of sheep farming of a generation or so and a lot of people left because of stock losses,” he said.
“They’re just soul-destroyed and have no confidence and the donkeys have it back.
“Through the pair and the delivery, they really are worth their weight in gold.
“If something comes into their paddock, they’re quite territorial and actually go towards danger rather than running away, so if a dog comes in to attack, a donkey just tramples it or runs away.”
Students have played a key role in handling the donkeys. (ABC Upper Hunter: Jake Lapham)
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Back to school for everyone
The Last Stop Donkey program took shape at St Catherine’s Catholic College in Singleton, where agricultural students were a key part of training the once wild animals.
“We assumed that donkeys were probably quite similar to breaking cattle, so we applied that kind of learning and it was … no,” said agriculture professor Joanna Towers.
“So it was just learning on the job and just gaining recognition for their personality and how they like to be treated, that whole reward system.”
Jacob Merrick lives next to the school farm and would be the first to spot new foals. (ABC Upper Hunter: Jake Lapham)
Student Jacob Merrick often can’t believe how far the donkeys have come.
“They were wild,” he said.
“They would have come straight out of the Northern Territory, no human contact, they’d been brought together in helicopters, quad bikes – they’ve never had facilities like St Catherine’s, so it’s very different for them and different for me.
“I’m pretty impressed, pretty proud, I guess, of what we’ve accomplished.”
Jaslin Boyd has a real bond with herd cat, Cracker Jack. (ABC Upper Hunter: Bridget Murphy)
Jaslin Boyd worked alongside the initial team and she and Jacob have become a crucial part of LSDP outside of school.
“At first I had no idea what to expect, but now they’re completely different to anything I’ve ever worked with,” Jaslin said.
“They have their days off or when they want to work with you and when they don’t, but we just work for it.
“They love to play. They’ve surprised me…from wild donkeys to calm donkeys that will come up to you to pet you.”
The Last Stop Donkey program has taken in dozens of foals in recent months. (Provided by Brooke Purvis)
The lessons persist beyond the farm gate
The LSDP team quickly learned that gaining the trust of the donkeys was one of the most important things.
Most farmers considering donkeys worry they don’t know how to care for them, which Ms Purvis said was why she also started running training days.
“The welfare of donkeys has to be considered because we hear so many stories where farmers just put them out in the paddock with their sheep, and their teeth, feet, all of that is ignored.”
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