A donkey named Duke living at the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada located in Puslinch now has a famous sponsor. Singer in rock group The Go-Go's and well-known solo artist Belinda Carlisle recently decided to back the donkey financially.

Duke is blind in one eye and shares a paddock with a fully blind donkey named Oliver. Dale Gellatly, donkey sanctuary fund development and communications lead, says the way this support came to be is truly an interesting story.

"You might know about Pockets Warhol, who is a painting monkey, and he's done paintings for a number of celebrities. The person who works with Pockets at the primate sanctuary is Charmaine Quinn," Gellatly said.

"She is also a volunteer at the donkey sanctuary. When she was working with Belinda on a project, she told her about the work that we do," she added.

Although Gellatly says all sponsors mean a lot to the sanctuary, the scope of someone as well-known as Carlisle sponsoring a donkey doesn't go unnoticed.

"It means a lot to us. We have a lot of people who sponsor donkeys which is absolutely wonderful and we appreciate them all," Gellatly stated.

"Someone like Belinda has a reach that we don't have on our own, so she's able to really help us get the word out about what we do and how we do it and why we do it. We greatly appreciate her support - it's wonderful," she added.

She elaborated to say people like Carlisle, who is a well-known animal welfare activist, feel really connected to the donkeys. Gellatly thanked Carlisle for her willingness to not only contribute, but also get the word out about the sanctuary. She says she thinks it's important to realize how busy Carlisle, who still records music, is: this makes Carlisle's involvement with animals that much more special in her mind.

Listen to the CICW story below: