An appeal to raise £250,000 to find a new home for 72 donkeys and other animals has been launched by the Island Farm Donkey Sanctuary at Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, near Wallingford.

The charity needs to raise the money within a year because the land it occupies is to be sold.

Colin Campbell, coordinator of the SOS (Save Our Sanctuary) appeal, said: "We now have to move fast -- a year is not a long time to raise this sort of money and get new premises up and running.

"We have a lot of support locally and we want to stay local."

He said farmers already had been asked if they had land or knew of sites that could be used by the sanct- uary.

Mr Campbell said: "Often farms come up for sale but money is needed immediately to purchase the land.

"That leaves us in a Catch 22 situation -- we don't have the money to buy land straight away and we can't raise money without having some land in mind."

The sanctuary has been on the land for 15 years, although the charity was officially formed only five years ago.

The donkeys acquired by the charity have often been badly abused and have been sent to Brightwell-cum-Sotwell by the RSPCA or the Donkey Breeds Society.

Others have come in from people who can no longer look after the animals themselves, or have been saved from the meat trade -- donkey meat is often used in Italian salamis.

The sanctuary, in Old Didcot Road, can be called on 01491 833938. Its website www.donkeysanctuary.org.uk gives information about how people can help.