A well-deserved retirement

Twenty years of hard work are now behind this transport worker. Born in Cádiz in 1985, he began work in Mijas, aged 4, in the Donkey Taxi business, where he was one of over sixty donkeys. At long last, Melao is enjoying a well deserved rest at El Refugio del Burrito’s facilities.

Mijas “Donkey-Taxi” is a tourist attraction which allows you to see the Town of Mijas riding on the back of a donkey and five licensees have Council authorisation to operate this service where tourists can ride on a donkey or a cart. This service was created in the late 1950s , following requests from tourists to ride the donkeys or have their picture taken with them and the handlers decided to change their work at local quarries for donkey tours in Mijas Town Centre.

El Refugio del Burrito and The Donkey Sanctuary, UK actively work together to get respectful and humane treatment for working donkeys and mules. In the case of Mijas, facing the dreadful conditions that some of the donkeys had to endure whilst working and the lack of a code of practice to regulate their use, we carried out a protest and awareness campaign resulting in the signing, in 2004, of a Collaboration Agreement with Mijas Council to improve the working conditions of these donkeys.

One of our main worries is the final destination of those donkeys whose age or injuries prevent them from being used as donkey taxis, so we have committed to take into our care the retired donkey taxis, therefore avoiding them ending up in the wrong hands, or at a slaughter house.

Melao, our second “pensioner” now joins Romero, the first donkey to ever come to El Refugio and a retired donkey taxi himself as a result of his limping and “difficult” temperament. Melao is retiring due to his age as he is now 24 years old, and Pepe, his owner, considers that even though he is still a good donkey and in good health, he has earned a well deserved rest under the expert care of El Refugio del Burrito. Melao has completed the necessary quarantine period and now lives in one of the paddocks in our Fuente de Piedra farm with another donkey, Willow, formerly known as Jilguero, very close to Romero’s paddock. They both have braying competitions every once in a while to see who has the loudest morning bray to greet their carers first thing in the morning.

Melao’s retirement is great news to us all, as it means the work we have been doing since 2003 (educating handlers and owners and making them aware of animal welfare and donkey welfare in particular) is starting to show good results but there is still a lot of work to be done to get major improvements in the welfare of many donkeys that are used within the tourist industry. Mijas Donkey Taxi is just an example, but many other donkeys and mules are being used in tourist routes without a code of practice to regulate their working conditions.

If you know of any establishment or business which offers the use of donkeys or mules, please send us information so we can investigate their working procedures and make sure the donkeys are used properly. All our investigations guarantee the confidentiality of the person supplying information.

If you wish to support us, please make a donation. Any donation, no matter how small, will be of great help to donkeys and mules all over Spain.