Menu

Legal Information and Procedures

Rules & Complaints

The attention of Members is drawn to the complaints provisions of the Donkey Breed Society whereby the Society has powers to discipline Officers and Members, in the event of failure to correctly observe any Rules and Regulations made by the Donkey Breed Society. The Rules are intended to ensure that Members enjoy membership and its benefits in the fairest possible manner.

All Members of the Donkey Breed Society are bound by its Rules, and those of its Committees, as amended from time to time, and shall be deemed to have consented to that through one of the following:

  1. Paid up membership of the Society.
  2. Acceptance onto the panel of Judges, thus acting as authorised representatives of the Donkey Breed Society

Rules

  1. No Member of the Donkey Breed Society shall conduct themselves in a manner or be guilty of behaviour which is derogatory to the character or prejudicial to the interests of the Society and in particular (but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) no Member shall behave in an offensive, abusive or unpleasant manner to any person involved in the business of the Donkey Breed Society, whether at a physical location for a meeting, a demonstration of a donkey’s skills or at a show or through any form of social media, internet website or in any publication in whatever format.
  2. It is the duty of every Member to assist the officers of the Donkey Breed Society in their investigations of breaches of the Rules and an unreasonable failure or refusal to assist in such investigation will itself constitute a breach of the Rules.
  3. Members shall not ill-treat donkeys at any time whether by misuse or neglect of their needs.
  4. Members of the Donkey Breed Society are responsible for the actions of those persons representing, assisting or supporting them, or otherwise acting on their behalf at events supported by the Society

Specific rules apply to Showing, The Championship Show and Stud Book which are contained within the documentation for the those committees

Complaints & Procedures

All complaints must be made personally and in writing by the member concerned.

Malicious complaints made solely with the intent of discrediting another member will not be accepted.

Letters of Complaint, with the exception of those relating to awards at the Supreme Championship Show must be sent to the Society Secretary by RECORDED DELIVERY. The matter will then be dealt with as follows:

  1. Where a complaint concerns the public behaviour of one member towards another which could bring the Donkey Breed Society into disrepute, it must be made in writing within 14 days of the incident, with supporting evidence in writing from two unrelated sources.
  2. A complaint concerning conduct of exhibitors at affiliated shows must be made in writing within fourteen days of the show in question and will be investigated by the Chairman of The Shows and Judges Committee and the Vice Chairman of the Donkey Breed Society Council or where there may be a conflict of interests an appointed member of Council.
  3. A complaint concerning Stud Book Registrations and procedures, must be supported by relevant documentary evidence and will be investigated by the Chairman of the Stud Book Committee and the Vice Chairman of the Society Council or where there is a conflict of interests, an appointed member of Council.

Appeals must be made within the timescales prescribed in the operational Stud Book Rules, and will be dealt with in the manner prescribed for Appeals.

Supreme Championship Show

Any complaint concerning matters relating to the judging at the Supreme Championship Show must be made in writing within one hour of the class in contention and supported by a deposit of £20. The complaint will be investigated immediately by the Honorary Championship Show Secretary, the Honorary Chief Steward and the Show Director and if appropriate the Chief Driving Steward. The Judge’s steward may be called as witness.

Welfare

Matters relating to welfare or perceived neglect of donkeys can be referred confidentially to the Donkey Breed Society Donkey Watch Scheme via a dedicated email on www.donkeybreedsociety.co.uk ; from where the information will be passed to an appropriate Welfare Agency for action.

Appeals

A member has the right to appeal the decisions of the investigating Officers, excepting in cases of Confidential Reports of Animal Welfare Abuse passed to a third party Welfare Agency for investigation, where the Donkey Breed Society is acting in the interests of the donkey.

The Chairman of The Donkey Breed Society Council will be called on to act as appeals adjudicator.

Privacy Notice 2018 – please download this link: General Member Privacy Notice 1.0 20180516

Anti-bullying policy 2018 – please download this link: Anti Bullying Policy 5.2018

British Horse Society incident reporting

If you experience injury, threat or discomfort, please report to the BHS 

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.