Farm hits back at rumours donkey 'collapsed' when giving children rides in the heat

A popular farm in Bolton has hit back at online rumours that a donkey collapsed in the heat this weekend while giving children rides. Smithills Open Farm, in Smithills, Bolton, say there have been posts circulating on Facebook about their donkey, Bouncer, on Saturday.

Co-owner of the farm, Carl Grimshaw, took to the farm's Facebook page to offer the 'truth' of 'what actually happened'. He has also hit out at those 'trying to destroy our family business that we have spent so long building up' and would like customers to 'understand this situation'.

The 'incident' at the farm on Saturday (July 16), according to Mr Grimshaw, happened when Bouncer was in the middle of giving children rides. He then decided to 'get down on his knees, lie down and roll' and stayed on the floor. Despite he and other donkeys being 'stubborn', he stood up again after a minute, they said.

READ MORE: UK heatwave LIVE weather, traffic and school closures updates with red extreme heat warning in place

Carl says this was due to high levels of horse flies, not heat, as a donkey will be very used to high temperatures. He said the farm prides itself on how well they look after their animals on the farm, and they are 'upset' at the thought of people thinking otherwise.

The Facebook post said: "We are being made aware of a post circulating on Facebook regarding a donkey ‘collapsing’ at our farm over the weekend. Here is the truth of what actually happened. On Saturday Bouncer was giving children rides at the farm when he decided to get down on his knees, lie down and roll and as people are aware donkeys can be very stubborn animals and he decided to stay there. After a minute he stood up. At this point we tied him back up, thoroughly checked him over,