The BBC reports rescue donkeys are joining work to save a rare farmland wildflower. About 20,000 small-flowered catchfly seeds have been sown at the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon.

The catchfly had disappeared from 70% of its known sites in Britain with the rise of intensive farming and more herbicide use, project managers said. Donkeys would walk over the sown seeds, embedding them, to hopefully boost chances of germination, the sanctuary said. The catchfly’s habitat is in the margins of fields near coasts, and it boasts pinkish-white leaves and sticky hairs.

It was now only found in Wales and south west England, the charity Plantlife, the project’s partner, said.