Mabel

Mabel was 23 years old when we saved her on Giving Tuesday 2024. She’s still unhandled, so we don't know when she was rounded up or whether she's just been left in a field somewhere. The kill pen contacted us about her before she was even posted as she needed immediate veterinary attention. They asked if we could help. Of course we couldn't say no to that and had her picked up. Mabel's feet were in horrible condition and she had a nasty abscess. Our Giving Tuesday donors made it clear they wanted her to come to Skydog Malibu to winter on warm sand and begin to heal.

She traveled to Malibu with a mini-pony, Snowball, and the two became fast friends. They like to run together on the rugged terrain of Malibu, which is the best thing for her feet. It’s nature’s way of keeping equine hooves in good shape. The first time we released her onto the hills, she stopped at the top, tucked herself into sage brush, and scanned the distance, perhaps remembering how it felt to be wild and free.

After Mrs. Tiggywinkle last year, Mabel is the second donkey we’ve saved on a Giving Tuesday. We have been focusing on mustangs in kill pens this year, but kill buyers also search for donkeys and burros to serve the ejiao market. We started the @skydogdonkeys account on Instagram to bring attention to these sensitive, intelligent beings and the terrible threat that demand for ejiao poses to their populations globally.

At her age with her feet, Mabel is exactly the donkey we needed to help and l'm very glad the kill pen reached out to us. We will give her the life she deserves so she never ends up in an auction or kill pen ever again.

We now have over 50 donkeys and hybrids plus a zebra to take care of, as well as close to 300 mustangs. It's a lot of work, but we wouldn't have it any other way. 

#skydogmabel

American Mustangs and Burros Need Your Help

In addition to supporting our work by donating, becoming a patron on Patreon, or sponsoring a Skydog, there are several important pieces of legislation to protect American equines currently moving through Congress. It only takes a few minutes to contact your Rep and Senators and urge them to support these bills:

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2025 (H.R.1661 in the House and S.775 in the Senate). This bill would amend the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly known as the “Farm Bill”. There are several important provisions for animals in that omnibus federal law, including the Cat and Dog Meat Trade Prohibition Act. It is currently illegal to slaughter, transport, possess, purchase, sell, or donate dogs and cats, or their parts, for human consumption. The SAFE Act would extend the ban to equines and shut down the slaughter pipeline that sends some 20,000 American horses and donkeys to savagely monstrous deaths in foreign slaughterhouses every year.

You can Contact Members of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121‬, submitting contact forms on their individual websites, or sending one email to all three simultaneously at www.democracy.io

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at US canned hunt ranches and stop production of Premarin & other PMU drugs.

Bills from the previous 118th Congress that we hope will be introduced again this year:

The Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act of 2023 (H. R. 3656) This bill will prohibit the use of helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft in the management of wild mustangs and burros on public lands, and require a report on humane alternatives to current management practices.

Ejiao Act of 2023 (H.R. 6021). To ​​ban the sale or transportation of ejiao, a gelatin made from boiling donkey skins, or products containing ejiao in interstate or foreign commerce, which brutally kills millions of donkeys primarily for beauty products and Chinese medicine.