Seaside donkeys driven from their home by vandals
The owner of Nuttall’s Donkeys is moving his animals to a more secure location after vandals struck again last week.
Vandals smashed the fence of the donkeys’ field letting the group out onto the road at 3am last Tuesday (23 August).
John Nuttall, whose family has run Nuttall’s Donkeys for three generations, said he was alerted at 2.30am by a local walking her dog.
“She rang me and told me there was a gang of youths smashing the fencing and chasing the donkeys around. Fearing for her safety she didn’t confront them,” he told H&H.
“I called the police at 2.35am and finally got through to 101 and they said they would send someone out to investigate.”
Having been up for hours looking for his missing equines, at 5.45am Mr Nuttall was rung by the police to say 14 of his donkeys were on the main road near Tesco in Cleethorpes.
“Within 10 minutes we had people out with headcollars helping catch them thanks to social media,” said Mr Nuttall.
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The donkeys aged 4-14 years had strayed three miles from their field in Cleethorpes Country Park. After being caught, they were transported back home by lorry.
The donkeys were uninjured apart from Sammy, who had cuts on his shoulder from being hit by an object.
The Nuttalls have kept donkeys in the 10-acre field for over 20 years, but has had recurring problems since the council put in a footpath across the middle seven years ago.
On a previous May bank holiday the fences were also smashed. On this occasion the donkeys were found unharmed in Humberstone.
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“We’re not going to put them back in that field, it’s not fair on them,” said Mr Nuttall.
“People were out looking for them at 3am in the morning. It is beyond a joke. We don’t want a bad accident to happen.”
“It’s getting worse every time, so we decided to move the donkeys to somewhere out of town so they won’t be pestered and terrorised again,” he said.
Police are appealing for information to find those responsible for the latest attack.
Anyone who can help should call Humberside Police on 101 quoting log number 63 of 23 August 2016.
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