Two donkeys with brown and white markings and a juvenile predominantly white one stand in a grassy field enclosed by a wooden fence under a clear blue sky, suggesting daytime during spring or summer. 3:11
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How Jingles became a mom to baby donkey Ben

Ben the donkey was born at The Donkey Sanctuary in the UK, and his mother rejected him from the start. He cries for her, and it's a hard sound to hear. more

His mother came to the sanctuary already pregnant. Ben was her first foal, and she wouldn't have him. Staff don't think he ever got to nurse. “He's literally got no idea who he is,” says Ben Hart, a behaviorist at the sanctuary who happens to share the foal's name.

A young donkey with white and gray fur lies on straw bedding inside a barn stall. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Ben rests in a straw-lined stall in his first days at the sanctuary.

So the staff stepped in. They fed him from a bottle every four hours, all through the night. They handled him and started his training from day three. But they knew he needed more than people. He needed a donkey.

They were lucky to have Jingles. She was a mare who had had a foal before, and she had no bonded friend of her own. That left her free to move in with Ben.

The first meeting didn't go well. Ben was terrified. “Every time she went towards him, he kind of went, ‘Oh, no,’ and ran off,” Hart says. It took four or five hours before the two began to look after each other. Once Ben began to run around a little, Jingles walked over, gave him a small nuzzle and told him to calm down.

Two donkeys with brown and white markings and a juvenile predominantly white one stand in a grassy field enclosed by a wooden fence under a clear blue sky, suggesting daytime during spring or summer. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Ben the donkey was born at The Donkey Sanctuary in the UK, and his mother rejected him from the start.

From there, her mothering instincts came right back. She guided him and looked after him, and in Hart's words, she “made the difference in his life.” Other mares at the sanctuary had foals of their own, so Ben soon had friends to play with.

Jingles hovered, maybe a bit too much. “You almost see Ben sometimes going, ‘Get off. I'm fine. I can do this,’” Hart says.

A year on, Ben has outgrown her care. He can stand still for longer and longer stretches, and his manners are so good that “you wouldn't know that he was an orphan foal.” As Hart puts it, “He has great friends and donkey companions that he'll probably stay connected to for the rest of his life.”

Two donkeys by a muddy patch. One lies down while the other stands and watches, head turned. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Ben grows up with donkey companions he will probably stay close to for life.

He's independent now. And the mare who had no close companion ended up raising one.