PUSLINCH – The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada will be opening its gates to the public for the first time in 17 months.
Starting Aug. 6, the sanctuary will be open for private tours on Mondays and Fridays. Tours will be accessible through an online booking system.
The sanctuary closed its doors to the public in March of 2020 as the country went into lockdown, but with provincial restrictions easing the sanctuary will finally be able to reopen.
Executive director Lesley Bayne said the sanctuary welcomed its main group of volunteers back last week and is well prepared for Friday’s reopening.
She noted the sanctuary has even noticed a shift in the donkeys’ behaviour since bringing back the volunteers.
“Certainly, the ones that crave the attention and love the visitors and the socialization, they are just delighted to have volunteers back and I know they’re going to be so happy to have visitors back too,” Bayne explained.
Private tours will allow for a group limit of eight people, with a flat fee of $150. Time slots will be available for 10am and 1pm.
Bayne said with the sanctuary’s staffing numbers, it will be able to run four to six tours a day on Mondays and Fridays. The tours run for roughly 90 minutes.
“We’re just moving along with the province, so we’re taking our lead from there,” Bayne explained on the decision to reopen the sanctuary.
“We’re trying to do what’s safest for the community as far as COVID as well as what’s in the best interest of course for the donkey sanctuary and the donkeys.
“We’re sort of just weighing everything in that mix but for the most part it comes to reopening, when it comes to health and safety here, we’re following what the province says.”
Bayne said it’s been busy at the sanctuary getting everything ready for visits from the public, noting sanctuary officials have had to shift the way they do tours.
Volunteer Day
The sanctuary also hosted a community volunteer day last Wednesday where regular volunteers and staff, along with people from the community, came in to clean up the farm.
“There’s debris on our trails in the winter so we need to do a lot of clean up and with COVID there’s a lot more that we’re required to do,” Bayne said.
“For our boutique we’ve had to put up plexiglass shields. We had to order more masks, a lot more hand sanitizer and we’ve had to get a lot more signage,” she explained, adding “we’re there, we feel ready.”
Bayne said staff and volunteers are excited to be able to welcome the community back to the sanctuary after all this time.
“It’s that mix of we’re a little nervous because it’s been a year and a half and some things have changed in how tours are done. We used to do tours six days a week and now we’re doing two.
“So, there’s a list bit of nervousness there but mostly we’re so excited. We’re so excited to have visitors back.”
Bayne explained a big part of the sanctuary’s mission is onsite education, which doesn’t happen unless the public is there.
“It’s also what a lot of us love doing. Get any of us talking about a donkey and you’ll have trouble silencing us.”
Bayne added as the province continues to open, so will the sanctuary.
“This is hopefully just a start for us, but it depends what goes on with Covid and with the province opening up as well.”
Tickets for tours can be purchased on Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/guided-tours-of-the-dsc-tickets-164361723339.
