A charity founder could airlift more than 20 donkeys from Israel to Britain if war breaks out in the Middle East.

Lucy Fensom, from Hove, is worried for the safety of a sanctuary she established in 2000 after being touched by the plight of pack animals.

Her Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land looks after 53 animals treated cruelly by their previous owners.

Many suffer appalling injuries at the hands of their Israeli and Palestinian masters or are attacked as strays.

Now, Lucy is preparing to bring a number of her wards to the UK should Israel come under fire.

Lucy, 32, first became involved with donkeys in 1989 and brought her first animal, Donk, to Britain in 1998. Two years later, she gave up work as an air stewardess to work full-time at her sanctuary at Netanya.

She said: "If Israel is attacked and I get a sudden influx of sick donkeys, it would be great to gather some of the younger ones and get them out of there.

"Pauline Grant, at the Sussex Horse Rescue Trust, said if we could get them to the UK, she could take them in for us.

"But there are also millions of human beings that may want to do the same thing. It would mean getting a special deal with an airline. I would consider it in extreme cases, if everything goes terribly wrong."

Lucy was back in the UK this week seeing her parents and meeting charity trustees to discuss contingency plans if war breaks out.

She said she would not be planning to bring all of her donkeys over.

Lucy said: "It would be the younger, healthier ones we bring over.

"A lot of the donkeys are injured - some are without eyes or a leg - but 20 to 25 are good, fit, strong donkeys after a year in my care."