The Donkey Sanctuary's global work provides a model for working animal welfare intervention that combines veterinary care, owner education, and end-of-life sanctuary provision.
The Donkey Sanctuary model demonstrates how welfare improvement can be achieved in contexts of poverty and limited veterinary infrastructure. Mobile units that go to where animals work — markets, agricultural communities, refugee contexts — provide direct welfare benefit (wound treatment, hoof care, pain relief) while simultaneously training owners in preventive care. This is more sustainable than rescue-and-rehome approaches, because the underlying welfare capacity of communities improves. The organization's retirement sanctuaries for injured and elderly working animals provide individual welfare at the end of a working life — demonstrating that working animals deserve post-service care.