Twelve of My Favourite Donkeys

by Elisabeth D. Svendsen

56 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Elisabeth Doreen Svendsen MBE was a British animal welfare advocate and former hotelier. Svendsen founded The Donkey Sanctuary, an animal sanctuary headquartered in Sidmouth, England, in 1969 to help abused or homeless donkeys. She also founded a related charity, the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys, located in Ivybridge, during the 1970s.

The Donkey Sanctuary has cared for more than 14,500 donkeys as of 2011. The sanctuary, which now has a veterinary hospital and overnight accommodations, employs approximately 500 people worldwide, including sixty in the United Kingdom who investigate reports of abused donkeys. Svendsen expanded the sanctuary to Latin America, Asia, and Africa. She founded a donkey hospital with emergency room in Ethiopia, where the lifespan of a donkey is just nine years. Mobile donkey clinics have also been dispatched in Mexico, Kenya, and India.

Svendsen's sister charity to the Donkey Sanctuary, the Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys, provides riding therapy between donkeys and children with special needs.

During her career, Svendsen authored more than twelve books, including two autobiographies, Down Among the Donkeys in 1981 and For the Love of Donkeys in 1993, as well as a series of children's books.

Svendsen became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1980. In 2001, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals awarded her with the Lord Erskine Award. Elisabeth Svendsen died at her home on 11 May 2011, after suffering a stroke at the age of 81. Her son, Paul Svendsen, is the head of The Donkey Sanctuary's European operations.