'Why I started the Sanctuary in the first place'
An extract from our 1997 newsletter
One of the questions I am often asked is why I started the Sanctuary in the first place. To say it started by accident when I witnessed the sorry state of so many of Ireland's donkeys is true enough but nevertheless touches only part of the motivation. The main reason was something from the heart, not easily expressible and I am greatly indebted to Wendy Valentine of Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk, England, for verbalising what I have so often failed to express. She speaks of a horse called Beth.
'Beth doesn't make the grade in any way that would make her usuable again...... but Beth is the reason society need places such as ours, places of refuge for nonperformers in a performance based culture. Beth and all the others to whom we have given sanctuary from abuse, neglect and slaughter, are mere whispers in a world with the importance of such as performance, competence, viability and productivity.'
Well said Wendy! And thank you. So when we at the Sanctuary are criticised for caring as much about animals as about adults and children, I gently remind these individuals that all is one and that if our children can understand a world that allows places of hope and healing for animals, then maybe, just maybe, they will grow up with a vision for a world full of hope and healing for us all.
