I feel I must post this message, as I have recently received an e-mail from the Donkey Sanctuary which has concerned me somewhat.

Whilst on the Island in December, I had noticed an increase in "crazy drivers", by that I mean, speeding! The donkeys can appear suddenly, and if you're doing 60 mph down EEG Blvd (for example), the donkey has no chance whatsoever. As you all know, I love Bonaire as much as all of you do, but someone has to speak up here and try to do something about this problem. We all love the donkeys and feed them (I know).. but after having seen a donkey dying on the side of the street in Town during our vacation, It really made me realize that something has to be done. Apparently, BON has had a very dry season for the past 8 months, so the donkeys go off in search of food and water..After a count in August, there are only approx 250 donkeys left on Bonaire (16 of those have since been killed by cars)! So, on a final note, PLEASE, PLEASE, DRIVE SLOWLY ON BONAIRE.. This message goes out not only to tourists, but islanders as well!

Marina, I hope this does some good!..

Sarah....Here Here....it has always seemed like people drove too fast on Bonaire for me...even on the road near 1000 steps we have pulled over to avoid people "comin round the mountain" too fast. We drive slow because of the lizards...guilt ridden if we hit one...I couldn't imagine the guilt of hitting one of the donkeys...

We are all painfully aware of the plight of the donkeys. I still see tourists and locals feeding them and it has gotten worse in the past year. If you stop your car just north of the airport, a small herd will appear and beg food. It has to be stopped and most of the car rental agencies are warning folks to curtail feeding. Posting signs not to feed the donkeys is also planned as well as other iniatiatives to stop the practice, but the animals are loosing ground. Marina has been working tirelessly to provide for her charges and as more money becomes available she can make more enclose more ground at the sancturay for more donkeys.

So, Michael, you're saying that we SHOULDN'T feed the donkeys? I never have, but only because our previous trips have been of one week duration and we just glimpsed the donkeys enroute to our sive site! This time, for a month, I was PLANNING on buying some food for them, as other BTers have described feeding them carrots and apples. Sounded like an interesting experience. Now I'm confused.
Freda
Kenora, ON

You should not feed the donkeys by the side of the road. But DO bring food to the donkey sanctuary and feed them there. You still get the fun without teaching the donkeys that they should hang around roads looking for a hand out. The donkeys at the sanctuary are not in cages and can roam around at will. The donkeys don't have to be bothered by visitors if they don't want to.

For more info on the Donkey Sanctuary, incidentally, see http://www.donkeysanctuary.org - also, for anyone wanting to help them out with some of the donkey/road interference, they are looking for some paint ball guns as well as paint balls filled with night-time reflective paints. See http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/sbi and click through to the link for Q&As, then the Old Equipment link.

Jake

We have fed the donkeys on the island, but I always encourage them to move away from the road by throwing the carrots as far off the road edge as I possibly can! But I guess that just by stopping the car, it encourages them to come forward anyway.. so I'll feed them at the Sanctuary instead.

BON had some rainfall whilst we were there in December, and the donkeys would make their way to the puddles in the road for water.. I saw so many cars having to break and swerve.. Marina's e-mail made it clear that motorists have got to slow down and give themselves more time to react.

Clearly, they should only be fed at the sanctua. Never by the roadside., Marina will be glad to have you visit. Warning!! Ladies....no straw handbags dangling by the straps. Had a very interesting encounter last Sunday! Wish I had my camera!

Seems to me that only a small percentage of the island's donkeys actually will come to the sanctuary to be fed, leaving all the others with no support.

Would be good if some sort of 'stands' could be put up in places safe for the donkeys and accessible to people wanting to leave food. Or where food left at the Sanctuary could be put out for the others, with the food transferred by volunteer off road transport. Win-Win.

Glen next time you are here stop in and visit the sanctuary. It is not a "voluntary" feeding station and no donkeys as yet drop in for a bite. Marina actively brings old, abandoned and injured donekeys to the Sancutuary. They live in large paddocks that are securely fenced allowing them to browse and have freedom from being hit by cars, dogs, etc. It shoud be pointed out also that they are feral animals that were domesticated and quickly adjust to being socialized and form their own hierarchy of dominance once in a herd situation...sort of like us humans!

So, my 'small percentage' is zero.

I was aware that the donkeys in the santuary had been 'rescued' for good reasons. I am sure they are well taken care of, confined though they may be. Are they released again to the wild when they have recovered, as we do with marine animals and raptors?

And I know that the wild donkeys cross the roads in front of oncoming cars and walk on the roads even when they have not been fed at the roadside.

My words were an attempt to channel the feeding-by-tourists energy (which has been blamed for accidents) to a useful end rather than stopping the feeding in a time when it likely is helping some animals. Ah, well.

Glen, thank you for your contributions here. I must admit, I have been wondering what the donkeys outside the sanctuary would do for food, if we stopped feeding them. So, yes, it would be good to come up with an idea that would mean we could still feed them, but not jeapardize their lives! Saying that, I'm still going to the Sanctuary this year to feed them AND leave a healthy donation! S

Not too sound harsh here, but shouldn't there only be as many donkeys in the wilds of Bonaire as can support themselves on the native vegetation? If you create feeding stations elsewhere outside the sanctuary, you encourage the donkeys to breed more, which produces more donkeys which the land can't support and which have to then be supported by man or die of starvation. Seems like a crueler future for the fuzzy beasts.

Jake

Ok please someone correct me if I am wrong-- or out of line. Donkeys are a creature of habit, so are feral cats, dogs and deer. Most of us are familar with deer and moose and fortune enough not to have had hit one on a major roadway back home in the states.
If you keep feeding the donkeys they will stay at the places they know where they can get food. They associate the automobile with food. Not many of us pull up on foot. They have adjusted to the terrain that they are in and know what to eat and where to get water. When times are tough (dry season) they know to move to the more populated areas to eat the vegetation around the houses and even some mail boxes. I wonder why most of the homes are fenced in-- maybe to keep the goats and donkeys out. Even when I was there this past November we had one heck of a time keeping the donkeys out of The Hamlet Oasis Resort. The gates would be closed at night on both entrances but they would find their way and destroy many young plants and trees. I would chase them out several times daily only to have them stop and challange me. They have very little fear of humans. I had this fear that I would find one in the bottom of the pool some morning.
If all tourists stopped feeding them would they find there way to the sancuary? Not sure--- maybe someone else can answer that. My love for animals has kept me busy of the years. I have spent alot of time with a program at home that controls the feral cat population-- and always find it hard when one is hit by a car or you just know that a coyote had one for dinner. Now call me crazy --but the sweat smell of fresh horse manure is devine, and so is Donkey manure.
I don't have the answers-- but for the tourists to stop feeding them is a good start. Sometimes it is harder to educate us humans then our 4 legged friends.

Jake, you are right, of course. No more cold, crunchy carrots for the roadside donkeys from me.. I'll be going to the Sanctuary instead! And I hope that motorists will try to slow down a bit, and give the donkeys a chance.. Thanks. S

Oh, for heaven’s sake. The amount of feeding that tourists do is not going cause an explosion of feral donkeys on Bonaire, wherever they are fed. I personally doubt it really increases the road accidents--but no one knows. It could help some who don't have enough to eat now.

Presently, Bonaire is undergoing a severe drought which has been bringing donkeys (and goats!!!) to habitation because they do not have a normal amount of food in the wild and this is claimed to be one cause of the accidents, as has been written several times. Note that I included this in my words. Another is that tourists do feed at the roadside, which does teach bad habits to a few donkeys. Thus, feed away from the road. Tourist food would only be at any site occasionallly so the donkeys would learn to look and then carry on normally. Forbidding feeding instead is like telling divers not to wear gloves instead of teaching them not to touch the reef or to touch it in the plentiful dead areas. (If the touching itself really makes a difference anyway--the scientists can't agree on that.) ‘When in doubt make a rule (or law)’--that solves the problem by the very act of creation.

Shortage of food equals malnourishment. Allowing the population to reach a 'natural' level for a habitat without our intervention means death of the weakest by disease or starvation--the natural order. Jake, I am sure you are not advocating that we allow the animals to starve to sickness or death?? If so, why a Sanctuary, which you support?

How many feral goats and donkeys is the 'correct' number on Bonaire to balance vegetation and wild animals??? I have read that they are denuding the island rapidly. Too many animals is the classic reason that there are periodic thinnings of deer herds; maybe Bonaire needs a donkey hunt to reduce the population. The goats would be next to help the wild vegetation recover to its state of years ago so goats and donkeys can feed properly in the wild. Until the herds increase again... Or, better, introduce a proper 'natural' predator to reach a good balance naturally--how about just a few wolves??? That would 'help' the feral cat and dog population, too!! Or maybe we should eliminate the donkeys and goats and let the island be natural as it was before Europeans introduced them!! Donkey and goat hunts could be used to increase tourism!!! All that green would be good for we people.

Much ado and many alarums and excursions.

Glen,

I support a sanctuary as a location to get familiar with donkeys and provide limited interaction between people and donkeys, as well as help people gain an understanding of the donkeys.

As far as allowing feral donkeys (which is most of them) to starve to death, it's not ideal but it is part of nature - evolution in action. If the environment can't support them...

Certainly more humane would be herd culling as they do with deer in New England during droughts and when there's an overpopulation of deer in certain areas. Unlikely to ever happen on Bonaire, especially since no one has spent much time studying the donkeys to understand what an overpopulation actually is, and because donkeys are "cute" (deer are wild animals, but donkeys apparently not? - go figure).

The only donkey-related research I've heard about was from CARMABI, which did plant surveys all over Bonaire and concluded that Bonaire's vegetative cover and plant species diversity has been diminished and continues to be further jeopardized by free roaming goats and donkeys, especially as such grazers pick the choicest plant morsels first (new shoots). Such overgrazing also results in more exposed topsoil and more erosion and more earthen dust in the air.

What should be done? I don't have a great solution that would work on Bonaire, but certainly discouraging people from freely feeding donkeys is a start. Penning goats would be a great second step, although that will never happen.

Jake

I don't have an answer either. But perhaps motorists could show a little decency, and try to do their best not to hit the donkeys (even though they're covered by their insurance)!

As said earlier, I do think it's a good idea to feed them away from the road.

The point here, is to try and make the donkeys lives a little less miserable, and I'm all for that.

Oh, and I don't recall seeing any of these.


Perhaps this is a more affordable idea?

Most of the signs we had were nicked by donkey feeding tourists! Please, everyone, the money you would spend on carrotts, etc can be put to better use by the Sanctuary to make the lives of these creatures easier. A neutering program is one of the best ways to limit the population. Also, the population is quite reduced due to accidents and illnesses.

Michael,,,we were thinking about this last night...how many wandering donkeys could there be on Bonaire...We seem to see the same ones over and over...can't they be rounded up and all brought to the sanctuary? Wouldn't this be the most humane? And once and for all have them cared for and safe? Or is it inhumane to take them out of their habitat?

Meryl,

I've heard of numbers ranging from 400 to 800 donkeys in the wilds on Bonaire. Certainly the numbers trained to approach dwellings and cars are much smaller, but even so, without financial assistance, the sanctuary has no space for additional donkeys.

Last night we had a herd of over a dozen in front of our house - never seen that many at the same time here. Not sure why they were here either.

Jake

maybe they have been reading this board and are doing a "you better keep feeding us!" revolt. I would have never guessed it was that high in number! Guess a round up is out of the question...

I talked to Marina at the Sanctuary in December, and she said the most recent "census" of donkeys on Bonaire found the number to be only 250.

Kate,

As far as I understand, the "census" is pretty informal - it certainly could be as few as 250, however. No way to know without doing a proper tally (tagging is a thought, but that's expensive and dangerous).

Jake

I want to know the insurance company Sarah's talking about that will cover costs incurred after hitting a donkey, which she thinks motorists do on purpose? I know mine won't cover one cent. And you don't have to be speeding to receive major damage to your vehicle-30-40/km and one jumping in front of you will total it. For most residents, that would be true hardship.

What Jake, Jan K. and Michael write above is absolutely true, and ultimately the environment must be able to support the population (numbers should be decreased via sterilization (yes!), whatever, however, etc. and then managed properly). As long as they are "cute" and pet/fed roadside (yes, it does matter), they will be a hazard, to themselves, and to drivers. Visit the sanctuary, or dontate to the Animal Shelter, or to Jong Bonaire, or Sister Maria Hoppner, or go to Happy Hour....

Hello Anonymous.. there's no need to hide, I won't bite your head off!

I obtained the insurance information from someone that lives on Bonaire! Perhaps he was lying.. though I'm a pretty good judge of people, and I don't think that he was. Should the information be incorrect, then I apologise..

Further, as someone studying Marine Biology, I am well aware that the environment must also support the population.

I will visit the Sanctuary, and will continue to donate to it as I have done for the past 5 years.. Oh, and what's "happy hour" got to do with it?

Hello Anonymous,
As Sarah stated there is no need to hide, We all have opinions and we write freely. No one will come looking for you. In the states or at least in Massachusetts-- we have no fault insurance- if we get into an accident that is not our fault than there is no deductible. A hit an run(someone hits your car and takes off) or if a deer or moose or bear or something big jumps out infront of our car while driving then there can be a deductible. Anywhere from $- 500 or even $1,000-- what ever the unsurer chose. And then there are those --- sur charges.
What some poeple seem also to forget-- driving small cars on narrow roads always seems like you are driving faster. I can be doing 40 mph and my other 1/2 thinks I'm doing 90mph.
And Happy Hour-- are you inviting all of us-- just name the time!

Peggy Bowen asked me to post this for her, as her efforts have been unsuccessful due to connection problems:

When Ed and I first started going to Bonaire in 1981 or so, the donkeys
DID NOT expect to be fed. Sure they were sometimes in the road, or by
the road but when you stopped - they ran. Maybe it was because people
ran after them when they got into the gardens and fields (there were not
all the fences around every house then). We had much more problems with
the goats in the road (even right at the supermarket in town - but then
some tourists were feeding the goats there...).
Funny how things start to have problems when we humans get involved with
'feeding'.

Someone last week (few weeks ago???) said that they didn't see so many
yellowtails around this past trip. Hadn't been to Bonaire for a few
years. There were never a huge group of yellowtails around the moorings
until people started to feed them. Then the yellowtails would follow
divers all over the reef -- even hanging around your BC pocket. (The
eels did the same thing on a few dive sites...) When the fish feeding
slowed, less yellowtails were around. We could always tell where people
dived by the amount of yellowtails in the water - as in ' we must be
near the mooring because all the yellowtails are in our face'. It is
nice to be able to not be mobbed by yellowtails on Bonaire in the past
few years.

On another note -- Bonaire put all those lovely garbage cans around -
some in the cement areas so the donkeys /goats didn't get fed by
garbage. That didn't work since people were leaving food beside the cans
for the donkeys and goats! I think the donkeys being fed is just
asking for them to be hit by a car - even if the car isn't going fast.
We are killing some things 'with kindness'.

And for those OLD Bonaire people -- the sight of Capt. Don running after
goats and donkeys in the early hours of the morning at Habitat is one of
my fondest memories..... they were eating all his plants and he wasn't
happy!

Peggy Bowen, Director, NJ Council of Diving Clubs

I've sat here quietly (just for once) this last week or so viewing this threads growing content with interest.
Lots of good points & extremely well put in several cases. I particularly liked Glens input...you don't honour us with your opinions nearly often enough.
Sure, there are far too many donkeys on the island.
It surprises me that no-one has mentioned the detrimental effect on this sorry state of affairs, caused by the closure of the Greasy Spoon burger bar which used to be run beside the Bonawa ice cream parlour.
Donkeys are the terrestrial equvalent of their marine counterpart, Conche. There's a small but dedicated market for the consumption of both.
The meat is tough & the flavour leaves a lot to be desired, but the above eatery succeeded in masking this by using rancid frying fat, a thick bread bun & finally burying the offending article under a mountain of fries & tomato ketchup.
Not only did this satisfy a small but regular clientel & deplete the equine population slightly, but it also made the donkeys think twice before approaching humans. They were bright enough to realize that the carrot dangling so invitingly before them might be an invitation to someone elses lunch other than their own!

Never fear Sarah. I love 'em all really. (The hat's arrived, thanks....I'll be in touch.)

Ah, as one who has had head bitten off, and words twisted out of context, I will choose to remain anon-your insurance facts, and comparisons to insurance in the US are indeed incorrect. Newer cars may have full coverage, but slightly older ones, and probably most owned by local residents, will not (it is not mandatory here). What is mandatory is that they are covered for damages done to other vehicles or property; our local health care system will take care of personal injuries. Hitting a donkey does not fall under this category.

And for some perspective: $1,000 is more than a month's take home minimum wage.

oh, and "happy hour" is just suggestion for a better way to spend time and money (than on carrots)

Anony, get over it!

And on and on, Anon!

For car insurance, if you pay the higher no risk policy fees, you can get coverage for any accident you are careless enough to create on your own (I found this out when I scraped up the side of my truck here a few years ago), however, most local drivers don't pay the extra premium (NAF 800 in my case) for that. As Anonymous1 says, that's a lot of money (actually one month's salary at minimum wage in a menial position).

As far as eating donkeys, I once asked Marina of the Donkey Sanctuary about this and she said it's been tried but that the meat was very strong and chewy - whether that's still true for tourist fed donkeys, who knows? Certainly horse meat is widely eaten...

I was also driving up from the south end today when I found the road blocked by a donkey with its head through a car window. When my vehicle's approach convinced said donkey-in-the-road to move, I asked the people in the other car not to feed the donkeys, as it attracts them to vehicle and they may get hit. The woman driving the other car responded to my request with some umbrage, apparently, and indicated in no way was she feeding or planning to feed donkeys - she just wanted a closer look. Sigh.

Jake

It's all becoming so much clearer to me now, Jake!
You're simply fattening Grendle up ready for next Thanksgiving, right?

I am sure glad the iguanas are not bigger. Talk about traffick congestion. I feed the little critters (involuntariy I might add...my garden is a virutal iguana feeding station). BTW...minimum wage is a heck of a lot lower than $1000 (nafl 1750)!

You mean, these cuties?

Robert, that's nice.

Jake, sorry your efforts didn't pay off.. though I have to say, it doesn't surprise me. I guess not all Bonaire visitors read this board.. and those that don't, will only do what I did, feed the donkeys 'cos they're "cute".. I should have known better, but I often make the mistake of letting my heart rule my head!

That's it for me on this subject, I only hope that I have helped Marina and the donkeys in some way. S

It could be worse Michael...You could be living on Komodo.

Andy, you're a darling.. great shots.. don't suppose you have one of the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis), do you?

I wonder who the donkey is talking to? Thanks, S

Over and out.. (seriously).

What a wonderful photo of Grendel!

We paid a visit to the sanctuary on our trip recently and I have to say Marina is doing a fantastic job. We had a great time there.

Anyone visiting the sanctuary, please, please give a donation to help Marina continue her wonderful work.