IT’S been a family tradition for decades.

But thieves are now threatening the future of a Hampshire horse and donkey sanctuary.

More than 400 bales of hay worth thousand of pounds have been stolen from fields and stables belonging to the privately run sanctuary in Nursling since the start of the year.

And over the weekend thieves returned to make off with another 30 bales of the animal feed, which is in short supply across the country.

Danny Bailey, 42, who runs the Nursling Pony and Donkey Sanctuary out of his own pocket, now fears for the future of the 11 elderly horses and a 35-year-old donkey in his care.

His father started the sanctuary when he was eight years old to save an old horse from being carted off for meat.

Their dedication to the rescued animals on one occasion saw them sleeping in the stable for eight days to nurse a sick Shetland pony.

The rescued animals, now aged between 20 and 38 years old, have become part of the Bailey family.

But Mr Bailey, a warehouseman in his day job, said the recent spate of thefts was putting him under extreme financial pressure to keep the sanctuary going.

He said he had had to take out personal loans and dip into overdrafts to replace the stolen stock of hay, which costs about £5 a bale.

Mr Bailey said he had tried “absolutely everything” to keep the bales secure, from locking them up in alarmed stables to tying them down with ropes under tarpaulins and marking them with paint and dye, but thieves keep coming back for more.

Mr Bailey, of Gover Road, who looks after the horses with his wife Sam and five-year-old daughter Emily, said: “I’m really at my wit’s end as to what more I can do. It’s heartbreaking.

“I can see that I’m not going to be able to feed my horses. I just don’t know which way to turn. I just can’t stop these thefts at the moment. I don’t know how I’m going to keep my animals going.”

Police said they were investigating the thefts.