When you get to live in paradise you find all the inspiration you need to enjoy yourself and others and build the best memories of your life.
Once upon a time there were wild donkeys in African and Asian landscapes. They ate whatever was available and nurtured a special taste for stinging plants.
The donkeys lived free until the day they allowed themselves to get caught up in wild man’s routines. They began to work in exchange for food and shelter but forgot to learn about how to live their own lives aside from work. They just focused on carrying and transporting all sorts of load from one place to the other.
Suddenly donkeys were removed from their natural environment and ended up living in wet and snowy mountains where eatable food was scarce, having the occasional moldy bread. Their feet would always be sore and their teeth would fall like autumn leaves. Even though they would be asked to work nonstop until exhaustion; after what they would be cooked, eaten and forgotten.
Almost all of them lost their adventurous spirit and started to apologize for pretty much everything. They stopped breathing naturally and were always nervous; this led them to twitch and curl up like old trees and to live short lives.
It’s not that donkeys don’t feel pain, they can’t show it on the outside; they are faithful even to the worse people, they cry when there is no one watching and they prefer to die alone than to ask for help.
But fortunately a lady came from Holland and managed to rescue some of the poor Asturian donkeys that were mistreated or that lived improperly. That extraordinary lady is called Marleen Verhoeff and she is out of the ordinary because she found the strength and suitable help to build Donkey Paradise.
Donkey Paradise is a sanctuary for both donkeys and donkey lovers where they are invited to forget about the past and live in the present.
In reality donkeys are like each one of us, they need exceptional care, attention and love; donkeys can’t be alone, they need a house to live in, they must have a special diet followed by routines and some daily exercise in order to be physically and mentally healthy.
If a donkey gets sick it needs special care, which means it can’t be treated like a cow, it must be treated like the donkey it is.
All donkeys living in Donkey Paradise had a hard life previous to the one they have now and that’s why they are treated with lots of love at all times. This doesn’t mean they are petted and spoiled with care, people just see them as they are and try to understand their individual needs day by day.
Usually the donkeys that seem really mean are the sweetest and smarter of all. How is that? Because they learned that in kicking and being nasty they were protecting themselves from both bad people and bad donkeys.
If you are patient, have good intentions and don’t get nervous around them it means you are a natural donkey person and that you can help in pretty much everything such as brushing, feeding, walking and nursing. Sometimes it’s nice just to watch them be on the hills, “donkeys being donkeys”.
The unusual thing about the donkeys living in Donkey Paradise is the noise they produce when they’re hungry, it can sound like a ship, a truck, a tea kettle or even a dinosaur and all you get to do is act naturally and smile, because they always know what they are doing.
