The founder of The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada has written a book to tell her story.
“Over the years I have been asked an unknowable number of times how I came to start a donkey sanctuary and also about the animals themselves,” said Sandra Pady in an interview with the Advertiser.
With the Donkey Sanctuary, located in Puslinch Township, celebrating its 25th anniversary in August, Pady said now was the time to tell her story.
She split The Donkeys and Me: A Memoir into two sections.
“The first part tells … how I came to be the person who would start a donkey sanctuary and then in the second part I introduce several of the donkeys that have animated my life,” Pady said.
“They have made my life better.”
Pady encountered donkeys for the first time in 1990.
“From the beginning, I’ve felt a kind of an empathy, a kind of relationship with them,” she said.
“They are so often maligned, they are so often made fun of and I just don’t think that they deserve that and so when I’m with them what I feel is a kind of a positive gentleness and I want to share that with other people.
“For some mysterious reason over the millennia donkeys have been the butt of so many jokes …
“I’ve long thought that the reason for it is that they are very rational animals who act only when they think it’s in their interest to act.”
She began the Donkey Sanctuary in 1992.
With over 25 years of experience with donkeys, Pady said it was difficult to decide what to include in her book.
“Once one starts telling one’s story, one can go into all kinds of details and I just wanted to keep it clear and not cluttered with all kinds of digressions,” she explained.
“I’m very sensitive to the fact that most people … haven’t got that much time to read and when they do they want something that’s clear.
“If they were to sit down with my book it would probably take them two, three hours to read it and they would have that experience and then they get back to their busy lives.”
The entire process took Pady about 18 months from when she began writing to when it was published.
“Going through this process made me realize how really committed I am to a world where animals are respected,” she said.
Pady was happy to have an avenue to share her view of animals and where they fit in the world.
“I’m hoping that some people will understand from my book that animals are distinct themselves and that they are unique and not inferior to us but rather different,” she said.
“We have to leave room in the world for them and let them live lives that are full and complete.”
The Donkeys and Me: A Memoir costs $22.95 or less and is available at the Bookshelf in Guelph, online at thedonkeysanctuary.ca and at the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada (open Sundays from May 1 to Oct. 31 and Wednesdays in July and August).
