A HELPING HAND

Since its foundation by Elisabeth Svendsen in 1969, The Donkey Sanctuary has grown from a charity rescuing UK donkeys from neglect and abuse to an international animal welfare organisation.

In addition to paid staff, approximately 400 volunteers work for The Donkey Sanctuary throughout the UK. The charity’s outreach is extensive. Its state-of-the art donkey hospital is a centre of excellence and treats sick donkeys, both inside and outside the care of the charity. Here, the charity is able to share its growing body of specialist knowledge and experience around the world. It holds training events, hosts students from UK veterinary schools and shares donkey-specific veterinary information across the globe. A donkey-facilitated learning programme helps vulnerable children and adults develop life skills by connecting with donkeys on an emotional and physical level.

The charity’s work transforms the lives of millions of donkeys and mules, and the people who depend upon them for a living. For instance, the charity’s overseas work uses a high-tech amalgam of biometric trackers and satellite footage to monitor the welfare of donkeys and mules working in the brick kilns of Nepal.

This work is being carried out by the sanctuary’s Joe Ryding, a geospatial scientist, whose expertise enables the charity to work with owners of working equines in far-flung places, aiming to educate, lobby and improve conditions for the animals. A smartphone app, called Equid Assessment Research and Scoping (EARS), is used by an animal charity in Nepal to send welfare assessments back to the UK.

Closer to home, the sanctuary has been using the EARS tool for more than a year to collect animal welfare information in the UK; helping to direct interventions where they can have the most impact.

In April 2019, The Donkey Sanctuary was granted Non-Governmental Organisation status by the United Nations, recognising the charity’s value and that it has a voice that needs to be heard, so that donkeys and mules are not forgotten.