Placid, loyal and good company.
Cobram’s Jean Arnold should know as she is now the proud mother of two.
“We (her and her partner) have had horses, miniature horses and ponies, and we have always wanted to have a donkey,” Ms Arnold said.
Pedro and Diego, both five months old, are the two newest members of Ms Arnold’s family, arriving at her home on Tuesday, October 10.
Pedro is a micro-miniature Mediterranean donkey, and Diego is a miniature donkey.
Pedro will grow to 71.1 cm tall, while Diego will grow to roughly 81.2 cm tall.
To put that in perspective, the lowest height of an average donkey is 109 cm.
Though many animals are bought and spend their days wandering around, Ms Arnold has a unique plan for her two new animal children.
The Cobram resident is training Pedro and Diego as therapy animals with the plan to bring them to nursing homes in Cobram so the residents can interact with them.
“They (the residents) can brush them, pat them and interact with them,” she said.
Ms Arnold also hopes to bring residents over to her property so they can have morning tea once a month and interact with all her animals.
“There are people in nursing homes without visitors, and they would enjoy the company of animals,” she said.
“They say animals are great therapy, and donkeys are very placid.”
According to Ms Arnold, the reaction to the idea by the nursing homes, which hope to host the two donkeys starting in November, has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The reaction has been fantastic. The residents and the workers are just so excited to have them there,” she said.
However, getting the donkeys ready to be around a group of people isn’t straightforward, and Ms Arnold is training Pedro and Diego.
Key in the training is getting the donkeys used to standing still around wheelchairs and people and ensuring they are not startled by sudden, unexpected movements.
Getting insurance to allow the donkeys into the nursing homes has also been a challenge.
However, Ms Arnold said that the community rallied behind her.
“We started a GoFundMe page to raise the $2100 for the insurance, which the local community rallied behind and paid for,” she said.
“Also, we had Rotary donate $250 to buy a gazebo so the residents could come out to the property for morning tea to see the farm animals.”
For this assistance, Ms Arnold said she wanted to thank you.
“I would just like to thank everyone very much for their donations or sharing of the GoFundMe page so we could raise the money and the Rotary Club for their donations,” she said.
“Without that, we couldn’t take the donkeys to the nursing home.”
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