We hugely value talents and skills! Sometimes these get lost or wasted between lack of opportunity or resources, consumerism, strict profit-seeking, and a certain lack of depth in values and standards. If you have a skill or talent that you would like to put to use toward our mission and you think you are able to work productively in a team, please get in touch with us! Also, when checking out our team members below, you will find that most of them may seem 'overqualified' in terms of degrees and work experience, and yet they love doing what they do to support our mission. But no worries - you do not have to have a degree to qualify for joining our team!
BOARD MEMBERS & OFFICERS
Dorothea Lotter: Executive Director, Chair of the Board, and Ranch Manager

Dorothea is one of the founders of The Longears Safehouse and also our Executive Director.
She manages our core rescue, rehab, adoption, and educational outreach programs and is our ranch manager and volunteer coordinator. She also currently presides over the Board of Directors until another equally or better suitable individual can be found for this function. In her "free time", she does paid translation work to fund her personal needs.
"I inherited my love of animals from my mother, who would always understand when I brought home cats or dogs in need, sometimes also hamsters, chipmunks or other small creatures. I first gained experience with equines at age 10 or 11, when I started volunteering at a local pony riding stable in my hometown of Kassel, Germany. My later career took me away from this kind of life, and I became a college professor in philosophy (M.A., Ph.D. University of Munich) and moved to the United States in 2001. When I left academia in 2007 to become a freelance translator, I moved to New Mexico and fell in love with donkeys in my neighborhood. I started rescuing donkeys in 2010 together with my former husband. By 2011 we had four adopted donkeys from a small local donkey rescue. When the rescue closed down that summer, we felt that we had to continue this work since there was no other rescue in the state that would specialize in donkeys' and their specific needs. I have carried on this mission ever since. It is my dream that someday I will be able to step aside, retire, and still watch our organization thrive and succeed."
She manages our core rescue, rehab, adoption, and educational outreach programs and is our ranch manager and volunteer coordinator. She also currently presides over the Board of Directors until another equally or better suitable individual can be found for this function. In her "free time", she does paid translation work to fund her personal needs.
"I inherited my love of animals from my mother, who would always understand when I brought home cats or dogs in need, sometimes also hamsters, chipmunks or other small creatures. I first gained experience with equines at age 10 or 11, when I started volunteering at a local pony riding stable in my hometown of Kassel, Germany. My later career took me away from this kind of life, and I became a college professor in philosophy (M.A., Ph.D. University of Munich) and moved to the United States in 2001. When I left academia in 2007 to become a freelance translator, I moved to New Mexico and fell in love with donkeys in my neighborhood. I started rescuing donkeys in 2010 together with my former husband. By 2011 we had four adopted donkeys from a small local donkey rescue. When the rescue closed down that summer, we felt that we had to continue this work since there was no other rescue in the state that would specialize in donkeys' and their specific needs. I have carried on this mission ever since. It is my dream that someday I will be able to step aside, retire, and still watch our organization thrive and succeed."
Andrew Cross: Board Member & Secretary

Andrew is the second co-founder of The Longears Safehouse and was directly involved in operations for many years. He has a B.A. in Music and Philosophy from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UC Berkeley. After many years in academia, he now resides in Philadelphia,”where he gives historical tours covering the Revolutionary period and the creation of the American republic. He misses the donkeys and continues to lend his support in various ways. He currently is the Secretary of our Board.
Janette Burch: Board Member

Janette grew up in a farmer's family in Nebraska and has been a horse woman most of her life. She first contacted The Longears Safehouse about some advice after rescuing a jennet that was hard to handle. She later came to visit and promptly adopted another jennet from us as a companion for her own rescue donkey. Janette has been with us mostly in an advisory role since 2021, and she has also helped out with trailering and transporting tasks. Janette, who resides in the Pecos area, wished she lived closer to our rescue ranch, so she could be more involved in daily operations.
Esther Jamison: Board Member, Legal Liaison, Marketing and Development

Esther is an attorney, animal lover, and long-time resident of New Mexico. She currently works and resides in Santa Fe. She visited Longears Safehouse and was inspired by Dorothea’s vision and dedication to saving, rehabilitating, and providing a loving home for these gentle, soulful creatures.
Esther enjoys promoting stories of kindness to animals and is excited to work on fundraising, marketing, and development for TLS, including grant proposals as well as acting as our liaison in legal matters.
Esther enjoys promoting stories of kindness to animals and is excited to work on fundraising, marketing, and development for TLS, including grant proposals as well as acting as our liaison in legal matters.
John Kuderik: Board Member & Treasurer

John Kuderik is our Treasurer. He is a certified CPA and runs accounting firm Kuderik & Associates based in Santa Fe, NM, jointly with his wife Marybeth. Not only does John have a heart for donkeys, but he also loves cats and is currently sponsoring TLS farm cat Tommy, who has a heart condition from birth and needs special medication.
OTHER CORE VOLUNTEERS
SUE KERSTEN

Sue grew up on a farm in upstate New York and later owned a hobby farm with horses, goats, and chickens together with her then husband. She is now a retired psychotherapist with a combined career of 35 years in private practice and working for the federal government. She resides in Albuquerque and comes out for mucking at the farm every other week. Sue is a hands-on type of person. She also assists our ranch manager on donkeys transports to the vet clinic or to new adoptive/foster homes. And she helps out at special events, usually bringing some of her very refined and delicious homemade bakery or other exquisite homemade dishes. Despite living in the city, she is no stranger to being around large animals. If you see her with her headphones on listening to audio books while mucking the pens, you can be sure that she is alert to what's going on around her. One time, some donkeys were fighting over leftover food near her, and an onlooker was worried that she might get kicked. When asked, she said "Oh yes, they were messing around, and I had to tell them to knock it off!" Sue has been with us since January 2022, and we hope to have her around for many more years.
DEBRA CRANWELL

Debra is a retired project manager and, like Sue, resides in Albuquerque. She likes to tend to the dogs at the farm and to assist with other tasks such as brushing donkeys, walking our mini donkey Esther, or assisting at fundraiser or info events. Debra also likes to do administrative tasks such as most of the design work for our newsletter and information flyers as well as maintaining our mailing list, and she is the one who actually sends out the newsletters every other month after all has been checked and cleared. She also occasionally acts as a research assistant to our executive director when needed. Debra joined us in fall of 2022, and we hope to have her around for many more years to come!
HIRED HANDS
ODIE

Odie is a local rancher's son and very knowledgeable about ranch work in general. He is in charge of maintenance as well as infrastructure development (such as new fences, new water lines and frost-free spigots, barns, and shelters). He helps with feeding chores and sometimes assists with handling animals during farrier visits or when we load animals into a trailer for transports. He picks up hay and straw as well as other supplies for us and does routine vehicle maintenance. In addition to regular maintenance work, Odie is skilled with the welder and has self-made many of the gates that you see at our farm. He also makes quality metal artwork, some of which is present at the farm as well (such as our Longears Safehouse sign at the entrance gate). Odie works for us on a part-time basis as needed.
BRITTNEY

Brittney is a talented multifaceted contemporary visual artist whose work conveys stories of her empathic experience of the world. She resides in nearby McIntosh and just recently joined our team to supplement her income during the slower retail months. Brittney comes three times a week for 3 hours to muck our pens, shelters, and stalls, and she so much prefers this work in fresh air over working at the Dollar Store! Brittney has already been inspired by her interactions with the donkeys to make a new painting featuring the character Nick Bottom of A Midsummer Night's Dream modeled on one of our donkeys. If you're interested in contemporary fine art and love to collect beautiful colorful paintings, prints, t-shirts or other items, check out her webpage.
EBERARDO (EBE)

Eberardo Lopez Espejo, also called Ebe by his clients, grew up on the ranches of Mexico surrounded by horses and other animals. From a young age he cared for and trained Friesian and Andalusian horses. It was not long before he saw the importance of proper hoof care for keeping a horse sound, happy, and rideable. When he arrived in the United States he began to seek out training with the best farriers he could find. He first studied under Rob Pasch in Minnesota. Moving to New Mexico, he continued learning Natural Balance techniques with the late Brad Dirickson. Ebe has more than fifteen years experience shoeing and trimming horses, donkeys, and mules and holds a CFP (Certified Farrier Practitioner) certification from the Equine Lameness Prevention Organization. Ebe comes here once or twice a month to trim our donkeys and mules.