An estimated 44 million donkeys work worldwide, primarily in developing countries. Their welfare is poorly resourced but critically important to the livelihoods they support.
Working donkey welfare represents a welfare situation where animal interests and human livelihoods are deeply intertwined. Donkeys in developing countries are not luxury companion animals — they are essential tools of economic survival whose deteriorating welfare directly harms the people who depend on them. A donkey unable to work because of harness sores, infected feet, or malnutrition is an economic loss as well as a welfare failure. This convergence of interests makes welfare intervention more straightforward than in contexts where welfare and economics conflict: improving donkey welfare through appropriate nutrition, harness fitting, hoof care, and veterinary treatment directly improves the economic wellbeing of dependent families. Organizations like the Donkey Sanctuary and Brooke provide scalable welfare interventions in exactly this spirit.