El Refugio del Burrito has now rescued 9 neglected and mistreated donkeys that were enduring an unsustainable situation in the province of Alicante. 5 of those are already enjoying their new home at our headquarters in Fuente de Piedra, Málaga.

Right after receiving a video recorded by a Dutch horse rescue association, El Refugio del Burrito was set in motion to help donkeys that were in the same facilities. Fortunately, five of those donkeys are now safe at our sanctuary, a true paradise after the hell they’ve been living.

El Refugio del Burrito, joined forces with local animal welfare associations Solúcar, PACMA and Ecologistas en Acción and have finally won the battle to stop cruelty against donkeys at The Feria de la Manzanilla, a Festival in Southern Spain, by having the Council ban the use of animals on the beach.

El Refugio del Burrito, with the help and support of The Donkey Sanctuary, UK fights hard to improve the welfare of the working donkey in Spain and performs a multiple approach to educate donkey owners, to train veterinaries and provide treatment to working donkeys, to make holiday makers aware of the situation and to enforce Municipalities to establish Codes of Practice to grant the welfare of donkeys. In Spain you can find some sort of donkey taxi in most of the touristic destinations, being the most known the Donkey Taxi in Mijas (Malaga).

In 2006, the agricultural department of the Andalucían Government introduced new regulations that ordered the identification, possession and farming of equines to be recorded in a register known as 'El Registro de las Explotaciones Ganaderas Equinas' (Equine Farm Register). These new regulations require microchip identification and a 'Tarjeta Sanitaria' (Health Registration Card) for every single mule, donkey and horse within Andalucía, which also includes all stables where the equines are kept to be recorded in the new register (SIGGAN).