Can you help name rare pygmy donkey?

ANIMAL lovers are being asked to come up with a name for a rare miniature Mediterranean donkey that was born at a Teesdale animal rescue centre last week.

Only a few hundred of the animals exist in the UK and they are all but wiped out in their native areas of Sicily and Sardinia, making the birth at Wetheriggs Animal Rescue Centre all the more significant.

The centre, alongside the A66 motorway near Thorpe, is home to about 1,500 rescued animals, ranging from exotic species such as meerkats to domestic favourites like rabbits.

The female miniature Mediterranean foal was born on Monday, July 24, to the centre’s sally called Cara.

Centre owner Terry Bowes said: “The father actually came from Texas and was at a British theme park where he was surplus to requirement.”

The jack is called Texas Tidbit.

Mr Bowes explained that thanks to a number of the rare donkeys being imported into America in the early part of the 20th century the breed has survived and most of the animals in then UK come from American stock.

Wetheriggs now runs a conservation programme for “pygmy donkeys” and two foals were born last year.

All animals born at the centre in a given year are named with a given first letter to help keep track of their age. This year all new born names begin with the letter G.

Ideas for a name for the newborn donkey, beginning with the letter G, can be emailed to the Mercury on editor@teesdalemercury.co.uk or dropped off at the shop at 24 Market Place, Barnard Castle.

The winning name will earn a family pass to Wetheriggs Animal Rescue Centre.

Entries must be accompanied by a name and contact telephone number.