They’ve been a staple of Clovelly, and donkeys are part and parcel of life. “If you look back at pictures of Clovelly in the 1800s, you always see a donkey carrying fish or goods up the hill.

The precipitous, car-free, cobbled village street at Clovelly on the north Devon coast must be one of the most familiar picturesque scenes in Britain. Of course, the village’s thousands of visitors ...