Saying goodbye to Lorcan

It is with a heavy heart, we say goodbye to Lorcan.

Very sadly, our oldest adoption donkey Lorcan, was put to sleep last week at the age of 27. Our veterinary and farm teams made a difficult decision regarding Lorcan’s declining health, but the kindest one for him.

Lorcan made loyal friends through our adoption scheme, and he held a special place in many of your hearts.

Lorcan retired as an adoption donkey in November last year, but remained a member of our oldies group at our Open Farm.

Rescuing Lorcan

Lorcan was rescued by The Donkey Sanctuary in 1995. When our welfare team was alerted to a donkey in a worrying condition just outside Galway city, they found a very thin donkey whose ears were flopped over his head.

Upon further investigation, welfare advisers discovered that youths had chased Lorcan into a barbed wire fence and he was close to losing both ears as a result. He was only one years old.

When Lorcan arrived at our Sanctuary he became the 1,167th donkey to be taken into our care.

Due to his history, he was extremely wary of people and allowed very few people to approach him. Before long, Lorcan settled into life at our Open Farm, and he grew to love the affection from both visitors and staff. He was a gentle and friendly donkey with a big heart.