Source:  donkeysanctuary.org.uk/Jenifer Tucker

We received this lovely story from Jo Nualart who helps look after Elijah, Roger and Jacob, three foster donkeys in Essex, which we would like to share with you in Jo's own words.

I'm sure you remember the recent media coverage on Dotty the donkey who was awarded the PDSA Certificate for Animal Bravery after saving her companion Stanley the sheep from a frenzied dog attack. Well, we have discovered that we have our very own brave trio of hairy heroes in the form of Jacob, Roger and Elijah - our wonderful foster donkeys.

On Friday, sometime late morning, a dog-walker "accidentally" found their way onto our lake and proceeded to continue their walk towards the paddocks. As soon as the dog spotted our sheep and goats - little Mabel, Mathilda, Giselle and Eugenie - peacefully grazing, he went into full hunting mode and proceeded to charge towards them.

We heard the commotion from the yard and started to sprint towards what could have been a very upsetting situation, but were a good few hundred metres away. The sheep and goats weren't so much worried as absolutely petrified. However, we needn't have feared for within a second the brave donkeys had seen the situation and had charged to the aid of our vulnerable little woollies. With the donkeys' ears back and charging onwards, the dog quickly realised it had met its match and turned on its heels.

The situation was all over in seconds and nobody was harmed thanks to our hairy heroes. We are so proud of them! They each got a well-deserved gold star and extra ginger biscuits.