A LEADING donkey rescue charity is to shut down four of its centres due to soaring costs.
The Donkey Sanctuary sites in Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester and Ivy-bridge, Devon, are to go, with 57 jobs axed.
More than 100 donkeys could be housed in pens while the charity decides where they should go.
A letter to staff read: “Costs are rising more quickly than our income. We face pressure from a growth in demand to support donkeys in need.”
Many of the animals are taken in after owners fail to look after them.
An insider told The Sun: “Sadly this is all down to funding. However staff are really annoyed about the charity’s dishonesty.
“They say it will save money closing these sites. But the executives on over £160,000 a year will keep their jobs.
“The cost of living crisis has also made it impossible to give services for free, which we always have.
“There is also a problem where members of the public can’t take rehabilitated donkeys on as pets because it’s now too expensive.
“I just hope that somebody could come along and offer us a lifeline. We are the third biggest charity and offer vital support.”
Many of the donkeys are referred to the sanctuaries after being poorly kept by owners who then try to find them again.
The locations of these donkeys are kept secret.
There are understood to be plans to send the donkeys to ‘holding pens’ before their future welfare can be sorted out.
There are around 23 donkeys at Leeds, and another 80 at Birmingham, Manchester, and Ivybridge, to be found new homes if possible.