Have to explain the situation in full so bear with me....

We approached a horse & donkey rescue in hopes to foster donkeys to see if we'd like to have them at our ranch.

Because we have acreage, the rescue then asked if we could house either ALL their horses OR ALL their donkeys b/c they were being kicked out of the property they were operating out of - we could not, as we did not have proper facilities in place for that many animals. 

Subsequently we agreed to foster 3 donkeys. NO CONTRACT WAS INVOLVED!

The rescue decided which ones would arrive at our ranch, we had NO say! 

We got 2 females and 1 INTACT mini donkey (stallion) - now keep in mind, we have never owned donkeys.  

Even though the stallion is a mini, he is STILL A STALLION, and has stallion tendencies!!

We have spent many hours separating him from the females during estrus, as he tries to mount! Perhaps we should not have been so naïve, but we were not told that this would occur nor that he would need to separated from the other 2 about every 3 weeks! We asked if he could be gelded and they told us we could if we wanted??? What? WE are supposed to pay for the gelding of a foster? We did inquire with our vet, who told us that there is a lot of risk in gelding at an advanced age-Needless to say that never happened!

Then, one of the females was CLEARLY very senior – she died a couple of months into our fostering her, unknown cause according to vet, likely advanced age. We worked with the rescue during the event. 

Then came time for the donkeys to get their feet trimmed, badly. Now, I have worked with dog rescues for years, and with dog rescues, all is paid for by the rescue, sometimes even food! I contacted the rescue to tell them the donkeys were in dire need of a hoof trim and ask for their farrier to come by, they told me:

1. The donkeys had to be sedated in order to have their feet trimmed.

2.  We had to pay for the sedation and trim!

Again, what? Their answer: With equine rescues the fosterer pays for everything??? Really???? Then how is that “fostering” ? Because to me, that is called OWNING!

In any event, we paid for the sedation and hoof trim.

Last month, we began to add new animals to our ranch. One is a rescued, abandoned donkey foal, and the other, a Highland calf, we already had sheep and goats. The other day the stallion viciously attacked the foal, grabbed him at the neck and would not let go...he finally released him. Foal was hurt pretty bad, required vet intervention. He has also “gone after” the calf - chasing him and successfully kicked him in the head, cutting him above the eye! He also is getting increasingly aggressive with the remaining female and in his attempts to mount her, has caused her injury! We had to build a completely separate pen where he is now destroying fencing and stall walls! 

We called the rescue and explained the issue and asked he be removed immediately!! They told us they don’t have the room, that was a week ago, now they are ignoring us!!! 

Yet these donkeys, (even the deceased one), remain on their website asking for donations and showing they are looking for fosters for them???!!!

Being the rescue is now ignoring us and there is no contract in place, can we now claim ownership and take the steps necessary to find him another home on our own?

Sorry for the LONG explanation to get to the question, but thanks in advance for any advice or insights!