Donkey Dreams Sanctuary

Donkey Dreams Sanctuary Donkey Dreams Sanctuary provides forever homes for donkeys and a place for humans to connect with donks

Donkey Dreams was birthed in our hearts when we realized some donkeys desire to roam open spaces with their families, have a special place to call their forever home and to interact with humans at their leisure. While we primarily exist to give donkeys who have been displaced from their original homes their best life, we also exist to make the world a better place, one donkey and human interaction

at a time. We believe donkeys have an amazing ability to make you feel loved, accepted and worthy. It’s been our observation that when people interact with donkeys they have an increased sense of well-being, kindness and compassion. We are currently home to 25 residents, including 8 special needs donkeys, 7 donkeys over 20 years old, 4 donkeys under two years old, and 4 mom/juvenile pairs. If you would like to be invited to private donkey experiences hosted by Co-Founders, Amber and Edj, join our friends and family community at DonkeyDreams.org so you can receive personal email invitations from Amber and Edj. In the meantime, many of our adopted donkeys still need sponsors so please visit The Donkeys section of DonkeyDreams.org to see if there is a donkey you would like to sponsor.

07/18/2025

Flash floods are common during Monsoon season in the desert but this one is the most intense one yet. It only took 10 mins to accumulate the volume of water you see here. Since we are portioned on a slope, we are fortunate to have great drainage. However, I walked the sanctuary continuously during the storm to make sure all of the donkeys found higher ground. Edj stayed with Gabriel holding up his hind end so he wouldn’t get tired from not being able to lay down since donkeys don’t lay down in rain storms. We are so grateful the donkeys are all fine and the sanctuary infrastructure withstood the forceful rains and 30 minutes of heavy rain and flooding. The only major casualty was our pool which is completely flooded. This is a huge bummer for us because it is what keeps us cool in the 14+ hours a day in triple digits. ***os

07/08/2025

Guess who got to test drive his new prosthetic? Gabriel! 🦾💙And the two of them got along beautifully.This video is a compilation of clips from the very first five minutes of Gabriel wearing his prosthetic leg—and what a five minutes it was!After five weeks of daily bandage changes, Gabriel has come to trust us deeply. So much so that we were able to slip the prosthetic on while he was lying down during a routine bandage change. Once it was on, we gently helped him up.He stood still for just a moment… and then took off running.No hesitation. No fear. Just joy.Gabriel actually runs better than he walks on his special leg, so it didn’t surprise us that he took to the prosthetic like a natural. He gave it a couple of shakes—trying to figure out this strange new thing on his leg—and then settled right into it. After a few laps, he began to walk on it. And before long, he was calmly standing still, fully bearing weight on his new leg.That’s when we carefully removed it again.Although we wish he could wear it all the time now, we have to wait until the skin on his stump is fully healed. Protecting the long-term health of his leg is our priority—and patience is part of the process.This test run was simply to make sure the prosthetic fits.And it does. Perfectly.We're beyond grateful to Specialized Pet Solutions LLC for creating this incredible prosthetic so quickly. Knowing it fits—and that Gabriel accepted it so easily—fills our hearts with hope. Big things are ahead for this sweet soul.Gabriel’s journey is just beginning. And he’s already running toward his future. ***os

07/04/2025

Massages and room service for Gabriel and Teo. We are hoping Gabriel gives us a five-star rating! ***os

Happy 1st Birthday to our baby girl, Solstice!Solstice arrived on the Summer Solstice last year, born to our beautiful S...
06/21/2025

Happy 1st Birthday to our baby girl, Solstice!

Solstice arrived on the Summer Solstice last year, born to our beautiful Summer—a formerly wild BLM donkey who was purchased by a breeder and eventually sent to a slaughter auction. We were able to step in just in time to buy her and her family their forever freedom.

Every donkey at Donkey Dreams brings a unique gift to the herd. Solstice’s gift is to play and to be joyful. She first shared that gift with us right after we laid our precious Moon to rest. With heavy hearts, we watched this tiny foal prance around “like a porpoise,” as our dear friend said. It was her message of hope—that even in deep sadness, joy will return. And since that day, Solstice has been spreading joy with exuberance... and zero awareness of anyone’s personal space.

She rubs up against you like a cat, and now that she’s grown, those affectionate nudges pack a little more punch. She’s also the largest one-year-old female we’ve ever had at the sanctuary. Her size likely comes from her genes—her older brother Oscar is enormous—but we also think it’s what happens when a baby grows up with every need met: emotionally, physically, and never separated from her mom.

It’s heartbreaking to think that if we hadn’t rescued Summer, she would’ve been slaughtered while pregnant with Solstice—and all of that joy would’ve been lost. In a world that can feel so intense, joy like hers is a gift we don’t take for granted.

Thank you, Solstice, for reminding us to play.
And thank you, from , for helping orchestrate her family’s rescue from the Bowie Auction in Texas back in August 2023.

***os

Happy Father’s Day to the best donkey dad we know, .edj !
06/15/2025

Happy Father’s Day to the best donkey dad we know, .edj !

Happy Father’s Day to the best donkey dad we know, Ed Fish!
06/15/2025

Happy Father’s Day to the best donkey dad we know, Ed Fish!

06/13/2025

This donkey world is so fascinating. Every donkey that comes to Donkey Dreams teaches us new things about donkeys. And while we have cared for hundreds of donkeys, there is still so much to learn.For example, Gabriel, who is this courageous wild foal who came to us with part of his back leg missing. Since he most likely had to survive a month in the wild as a baby without a mom and part of his leg missing, one would think that he would be so happy to come to Donkey Dreams where he would receive a special diet to help him gain weight and muscle mass, the daily medical attention his wound needed, pain relief for his injury and a prosthetic leg so he can walk better. However, that was not the case. Adjusting to water sources and food sources different from the wild took time and he only wanted natural forage—nothing processed. And some days, he couldn’t get comfortable drinking from the various water troughs we provided for him. Other days he was startled by things in his pen or humans. He had to get used to being in a pen with fencing…and not having the freedom to roam around. Some days he felt sad…like he was grieving the loss of his life in the wild. As if he preferred it to his life at Donkey Dreams which we have empathy for because we have had many grieving wilds come to Donkey Dreams. Their loss of freedom is devastating. And as much as we try to emulate their life in the wild, it doesn’t even come close to what they have to give up when removed against their will. Knowing we couldn’t give Gabriel back his freedom we looked for ways to bring him comfort and protect his sovereignty since we have to change his bandage daily and give him pain medicine daily. All things that crosses his free will. Since donkey moms are very affectionate to their foals, we started spending more time brushing, massaging and cuddling him…and he loves it! He actually grooms us which is super cute…but it’s quite intense and even painful :-) It has become a ritual before and after we do a treatment, Edj lays down and cuddles him. Gabriel has taught us that while we grieve the loss of something special in our lives, we can find comfort in other things to help ease the pain and mend our heart. ***os

Gabriel is doing a great job eating, drinking and sleeping so he can grow up to be big and strong. We have grazing and w...
06/05/2025

Gabriel is doing a great job eating, drinking and sleeping so he can grow up to be big and strong. We have grazing and water stations for him all around his enclosure. We have casted him for his prosthetic and change his bandage daily so he can continue to heal the wound site on his leg. He did such an amazing job taking care of himself in the wild so we are just here to support him in thriving at Donkey Dreams.

The more we learn about what it takes to care for a donkey with a missing leg, the more realize the time and money it will take to help him be able to live with other donkeys his age…something we believe to be very important to him since he hangs out with his future herd mates along the shared fence line. He is doing his part to be strong and we are doing our part to help him.

Please consider contributing to his care at the fundraiser here https://www.facebook.com/donate/1470502757735472/

If you would like to be part of Gabriel’s longterm care plan, you can sign-up for a sponsorship at DonkeyDreams.org and when we send your sponsorship welcome email, you can let us know you would like your sponsorship to support Gabriel.

***os

Normally we post a daily photo of Halo and his mom, Angel on our stories. However, today we are posting Halo, with his t...
06/04/2025

Normally we post a daily photo of Halo and his mom, Angel on our stories. However, today we are posting Halo, with his two-legged momma, Amber, Co-Founder of Donkey Dreams Sanctuary. This is a cherished moment because when a wild b***o chooses to trust a human, there is something sacred that is exchanged between the wild and the human.

At Donkey Dreams, many of our donkeys were removed from the wild by humans. By creating a safe, kind and loving space laced with patience and grace, we see donkeys come to trust humans and embrace a physical and emotional relationship with the two-legged. These healing moments are the reward to all of us—co-founders, friends and family and sponsors—who care for the donkeys. It is priceless payment in love and gratitude.

**Donkey Dreams is a 100% volunteer organization which means your donations go directly to the care and well-being of our donkeys. We are committed to spreading donkey joy and love. If our donkeys have touched you, please consider contributing to their care at DonkeyDreams.org.**

***os

To all of our Xander lovers…Xander is really loving his family at Donkey Dreams. He plays with his eldest son many times...
06/02/2025

To all of our Xander lovers…

Xander is really loving his family at Donkey Dreams. He plays with his eldest son many times throughout the day, nuzzles with his main squeeze, Luna and has developed relationships with many of the other donkeys in his herd.

***os

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Littlefield, AZ
86432

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