Donkey business

Don’t get me wrong I like donkeys.  They’re very gentle creatures who contribute so much to the economies in the parts of the world in which I work.  There are great stories about donkey heroes and one even has achieved legendary status having carried the world’s greatest historical figure in the last hours before his death in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.  Sadly in many countries they are often abused and overloaded as the following picture shows. 

So believe me I DO like donkeys.  But when I visited the donkey sanctuary in Devon last week whilst on holiday with my family, I confess to feeling rather annoyed.  This charity, which does great work at providing “care, protection and/or permanent security anywhere in the world for donkeys and mules”, received £13 million last year from donations – more than the Samaritans, Age Concern and Mencap combined.  At a time when most charities are struggling financially it seems to me bizarre, obscene in fact, that we give more to animal charities than children’s charities or helping the elderly.  Is this what the Charities Aid Foundation means when it talks about “the eccentric nature of British philanthropy”? Could we have possibly got our priorities wrong.