A mother’s worst nightmare has happened. Her baby was kidnapped!
In this case, Astra, the mother donkey, has lost her foal, Moon, to thieves.
Someone stole her two-month-old donkey foal from Miller’s Ark, where they both live. Astra and the farm staff and devastated and worried for Moon.
Without her mother, Moon won’t be able to survive.
“Astra has been just completely devastated, just really stressed, pacing up and down the fence line, braying,” owner Elizabeth Miller said. “She doesn’t know what to do with herself because all of her natural instincts are to find the foal.”
They had to find Moon! The question is, how?
They don’t have any suspects or leads to go with. Donkeys are very friendly animals and they’re not afraid of humans. It would have been so easy to lure the donkeys and steal them.
The farm doesn’t have security cameras at the farm, too, so it’s going to be doubly hard to find Moon.
They will need the help of good-hearted people to find their foal.
Miller’s Ark is so grateful that their supporters have doubled their help for the farm. They’ve even raised £10,000 as a reward for Moon’s return.
A few supporters also raised around £2,000 to install security cameras at the farm.
Hopefully, this time, if anything like this happens again, they will have a better and faster chance of finding the animals.
Time went by and there was still no news about Moon.
After a few weeks though, they finally heard good news. Moon has been found!
The farm staff traveled around 53 miles to Buckinghamshire, UK, where Moon was found. They met with the Thames Valley Police who returned the foal.
The farm wanted to thank the Thames Valley, Surrey, and Hampshire Police departments for all the unbelievable work they’ve done to search for Moon.
Hampshire police received a lot of tips about Moon sightings.
It was, however, a tip the farm received that made the Hampshire police deploy their police officers to the area.
“We have worked tirelessly to locate Moon, scouring CCTV footage to see if we could find her, so we are absolutely delighted about this positive outcome,” Sgt Stuart Ross, of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, said.
Details about the who stole Moon are not yet clear.
Not to worry, though, because the Hampshire and Isle of Wight constabulary’s Countrywatch team are continuing the investigation.
For now, the farm is just ecstatic that Moon and Astra are now together.
“We are beyond thrilled and Mum and foal are finally back together. Moon appears to be in good health, thank heaven, and we will make sure that Moon and her mum Astra get lots of love and care as they re-discover each other,” Miller’s Ark wrote on their Facebook page.
Currently, the farm staff is helping Moon and Astra adjust and bond again with each other.
It is going to be a challenge but they’re prepared to do the work.
Watch Moon and Astra re-bond again with each other in the video below.
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