Approximately 40 million working donkeys globally provide essential transportation and agricultural services in low-income countries. Improving their welfare requires context-sensitive approaches addressing poverty, culture, and animal needs simultaneously.
Working donkey welfare cannot be separated from the welfare of the humans who depend on them. A family's only donkey represents a critical economic asset - when it becomes sick or injured, the family's livelihood is threatened. Welfare improvement programs that frame better treatment as protecting this economic asset, and that provide affordable veterinary training and supplies, have achieved significant positive outcomes. The key welfare challenges include chronic overloading, inadequate water access, harness wounds, and late treatment of illness. Cultural perceptions of donkeys as lesser than horses can influence care quality, requiring sensitive educational approaches. The ejiao trade has created new economic incentives that threaten working donkey populations in Africa and Asia.