Grass cuts donkeys down

The donkeys, Dodo, Noble and Ben, died on Tuesday, November 13, after eating grass cuttings discarded next to their paddock.

Owner Herdis Churchill, 80, of Hooley Farm, Woodplace Lane, Coulsdon, found Dodo's body late that evening, but thought that the 36-year-old animal had died of a heart attack.

The following morning she made the grim discovery that the younger donkeys, Noble, 10, and Ben, 6, both due to appear in Leicester Square for Children in Need that week, had also died.

A post-mortem revealed that the animals had eaten dumped grass cuttings which had fermented in their stomachs, causing a lethal build up of gases.

Mrs Churchill said: "Lawn mowings were deposited close to a donkey grazing field, close enough for them to eat them. I want to get across that farm land should not be a place for local people to dump their rubbish, even garden cuttings, because they could be lethal for farm animals."

The donkeys were more than just pets on Hooley Farm, they had been trained for agricultural work and had been part of the working team that toured the Southern counties giving displays to raise money for charity.

Dodo was the farm's veteran donkey, who had raised over £7,000 for charities including Tadworth Court and Mayday University Hospital. He had also appeared on television, on stage at the Fairfield and had even gone up in the lift to visit the maternity ward at Mayday.

Mrs Churchill said: "Now he was 36, he'd practically retired as a worker but to me personally money could not buy him. He was the first horse many children in the district rode."

But rather than venting anger at the loss of her much-loved animals, Mrs Churchill wants to ensure it does not happen again to her animals or other people's.

She added: "Never feed anything to other people's animals without obtaining permission from the owner."

December 10, 2001 15:00