News24 | Baie donkey: Karoo sanctuary saved from the brink as 400 animals find new haven

Olivia is one of the donkeys at the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary – she was treated for a maimed ear and abuse in the surrounding rural areas.

• The Karoo Donkey Sanctuary is one of the largest equine animal havens on the continent.
• After a bleak winter and eviction off its previous property by a new owner, the sanctuary faced an uncertain future for its 400 animals.
• But three angel investors and the passion of its owner ensured it was able to save all those animals and put down its own roots for the first time in a decade.

It was a bleak winter for the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary in the Western Cape last year.

After operating for many years in the region, the sanctuary was facing eviction from its property after a new owner purchased it.

And it was here that owner and founder Jonno Sherwin, who had been running the sanctuary for more than a decade, had sobering decisions to make about the 140 rescued donkeys, 40 horses, 30 cows, 100 geese, pigs, ostriches and other animals that had nowhere else to go.

“It was really tough,” he told News24 this week. “I was on a cliff and I had to make the call to potentially close the sanctuary down. In the donkey context it may have meant having to euthanise them in some respect. There’s nowhere for them to go and we can’t put them back in areas where they are abused or overworked. That’s where we saved them from.”

Fast forward to January 2026 and the situation looks much brighter for the largest equine sanctuary of its kind on the continent. About 50km away in De Rust was a new farm called De Hoop.

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With the help of three angel investors and using his own money from his full-time career job, running a sofa removal business in Cape Town, he bought into ’hope’.

“We’ve just taken transfer of our new property this morning,” a happy Sherwin told News24 this week. “It’s our first time since 2013 we can throw roots down into the soil.”

For the last decade, the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary has been rescuing abused donkeys and other animals. In that time, the team has grown to 11 staff members, five of whom are full-time equine carers who take care of the battle-weary animals. They have also rehomed more than 200 of these animals.

“Donkeys are without a doubt one of the most abused, neglected, and exploited animals in the world, largely due to their role as ‘beasts of burden’ in low-income communities and the rapidly growing global trade in their skin,” Sherwin said.

He added:

“One of their rescue stories includes a rescued horse called Mercy, who was found alone in the Karoo veld without food and water through a drone search.

“We estimate she was probably 24 hours away from dying, but we still had to fight to have her surrendered over to us. The owner still thought it was okay to leave her in that condition.”

Mercy was one of the animals which passed through the sanctuary’s high-care unit, before joining the bigger herds, healthy and free to roam.

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It’s a new chapter now for the sanctuary on its 520-hectare farm, but they are not out of the woods yet, with the area facing a drought.

“We’ve moved for security but now water is the new challenge. But ownership is going to be a gamechanger for us.”

The new farm, situated at the base of the Swartberg mountains, will have guesthouses as well as a vegetable seed-producing agricultural component of the farm that will continue to assist with revenue.

“It’s just really rewarding for me,” Sherwin added. “When I spend time with those animals, they will literally come up to me and my forehead will meet theirs and I can feel their gratitude. They really are a lot more sentient than we give them credit for.”

If you would like to support the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary, you can read more here or email jonno@karoodonkey.org.

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