Families outraged over farm's name for newborn donkey

A farm's decision to let customers pick a name for their newborn donkey has not ended well.

When the foal was born last week, Smithills Open Farm in Bolton asked for suggestions on what to call him.

With his mum called Matilda, it was the name Bruce Bogtrotter that owners decided suited him best.

But after revealing his moniker on Facebook, it's not gone down too well with families - with many saying it's 'an awful name for such a beautiful animal'.

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"What a horrible name lol. He's far to cute be named that," said Jasmine Sheridan on the farm's Facebook page.

Sharon Hanson said: "What a god awful name for such a beautiful animal, poor mite."

While Janice Owen added: "Poor thing what kind of name is that... all the lovely names you could choose and you pick that one. Sorry don't like it one bit."

Another customer said the worst happens when members of the public are given a say.

"Never rely on the public to name things," said Lucy Marciano-Mills. "That's how that ship got called Boaty McBoatface."

She was of course referring to a online poll that went viral in 2016, when the public chose the name for a new British polar research ship.

It was eventually called Sir David Attenborough, with the more humorous name being given to a small, yellow autonomous underwater vehicle instead.

Following the backlash at Smithills, bosses have been keen to defend the name, which comes from the chocolate cake-munching character in Roald Dahl's Matilda book.

"I think I need to explain our choice," said farmer Carl Grimshaw. "Bogtrotter's mum is called Matilda and she is a very popular member of the Smithills Family, we really like the name Bruce but we thought it