Equine Aid: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

We used this generous gift to purchase one ton of low-sugar/starch hay. This amount will feed the ponies and donkeys (the low-cal crew) for one week. This hay was first-cutting grass which was made in 2019.

As with many other nonprofits during this time of COVID, our donations are down. Hay is our biggest expense and is required for daily intake by our herd. This grant allowed us to provide hay as they needed and to be able to use other funds for routine care such as hoof trims.

How many pets did this grant help?

15

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

This grant helped us provide for Pancho, a black standard donkey gelding we rescued in March 2020, just before COVID issues began to impact our finances. Pancho belonged to a couple in western Washington who were no longer able to provide for him. Our rescue focus is on accepting surrendered pets before the owners become desperate due to personal issues such as health, divorce, financial downturns, etc.

Resources for donkeys in this area are minimal: only Equine Aid. Our policy is to accept these animals to prevent them from going to auction or on Craigslist, where they often wind up in the slaughter pipeline through no fault of their own.

The first photo shows Pancho in the arena at Cedarbrook Vet. We take all of our animals here for quarantine. He is quite a personable guy!

The second and third photos are of our beloved volunteer, Alex Castillo, unloading the trailer full of hay just purchased for the ponies and donkeys.

The fourth photo is of the hay in the covered bay.