The world's working donkeys - numbering around 50 million - perform essential transport and agricultural roles in developing countries, often in conditions that cause chronic suffering without adequate veterinary care or recognition of their sentience.
Working donkeys in low-resource settings experience chronic welfare deprivation: harness wounds that go untreated, lameness from inadequate hoof care, overloading beyond physical capacity, and dehydration from insufficient watering during work. The paradox is that improving donkey welfare also improves the livelihoods of the families who depend on them - better-cared-for donkeys work more effectively for longer. Veterinary training of community members in basic donkey care is one of the most cost-effective welfare and livelihood interventions in low-income countries. The ejiao skin trade is creating a new acute welfare crisis through mass donkey slaughter and illegal theft of working animals.