Donkeys are working animals for millions of the world's poorest people, yet their welfare is often severely compromised by overwork, poor harnessing, inadequate feed, and lack of veterinary care. Improving donkey welfare is inseparable from improving rural livelihoods.
Working donkey welfare is one of the most significant animal welfare challenges globally by scale and severity, yet receives far less attention than companion or farmed animal welfare in high-income countries. The donkeys serving rural communities in Ethiopia, Morocco, India, Mexico, and dozens of other countries are not pets or agricultural commodities but working partners whose capacity to work underpins their family's survival. This economic dependency creates a complex welfare dynamic: owners who care about their donkeys may nevertheless overwork or underfeed them when household food security is at stake. The most effective welfare interventions in this context are those that simultaneously improve donkey welfare and owner livelihoods — by increasing working capacity through better health, reducing harness wounds that cause infection and work absence, and extending working lifespans. Community-based animal health worker programmes, mobile veterinary outreach, and participatory harness improvement schemes have demonstrated that welfare improvement is achievable even in resource-constrained settings when programmes are designed with community needs at the centre.