We hang the ‘No Vacancy’ sign

During the first half of 2016, El Refugio del Burrito (The Donkey Sanctuary in Spain) has attended an unprecedented number of cases, including the rescue of close to 100 donkeys in Cáceres, last February. With the arrival of these animals - and other 40 coming from different operations against animal cruelty and abandonment - the capacity of our sanctuaries is, at the moment, approaching its limit.

We have beaten the occupation record with 361 donkeys and mules living in our sanctuaries. Most of them enjoy a safe environment for the first time in their lives.

Another donkey taxi violent incident in Mijas

A Mijas donkey worker was recently captured abusing his donkeys. In a video shared on 13th October with El Refugio del Burrito, the man kicks one of his donkeys twice in the face and elbows another donkey. The aggression takes place in the middle of the street, while some tourists ride the animals.

Carousels banned in Ronda and Ciempozuelos

We have plenty to celebrate as new towns and cities around Andalucia are responding to our appeal to ban donkey and pony carousels at local celebrations.

Ronda, one of the most touristic cities in Andalucia, is the latest to ban such fairground attractions.

Following our appeal, the council has decided not to allow these attractions where donkeys and/or ponies are forced to work long hours with little rest, food or water. Further inland, Ciempozuelos in Madrid has also decided to join the ban.

Sad end for Palomares Mule

Sometimes we are lost for words when trying to express the helplessness we feel following the outcome of some cases, in spite of all the hard work and enthusiasm we put in. Such is the case of a mule we recently tried to rescue in a village near Seville in spite of our prompt response.

These are the details of the case:

Donkey carousels banned in Spanish town

Posted on 21 August 2014.

A Spanish town has banned donkey ‘carousels’ after The Donkey Sanctuary lobbied the authorities against it.

The carousels, where donkeys and ponies are tied by their heads to a fixed turntable and forced to walk round and round in a circle carrying children on ‘rides’, are a feature of many Spanish towns during festivals and fairs.

But these live animal fairground-style rides have been stopped in Algeciras, Gibraltar, southern Spain, thanks to The Donkey Sanctuary’s Spanish branch, El Refugio del Burrito.

Animal cruelty at El Rocío

Following our mission of helping donkeys and mules all over Spain, we were present at this year’s “El Rocío” to help protect the welfare of the equines at the festival, and to prevent their mistreatment. “El Rocío” is one of the biggest Spanish festivals held in June eachyear and the biggest, most crowded pilgrimage in the country. Thousands of people, and animals, flock to this particular spot in South West Spain to participate in this religious festival. What our welfare team found there, however, was far from religious indeed; it was a scene fit for Dante’s Inferno.

STEPS against cruelty

In response to new evidence of suffering experienced by animals working abroad in the tourism industry, The Donkey Sanctuary is urging UK tourists to “Take STEPS” to avoid participating in acts of animal cruelty this summer.

Donkeys and mules in tourist hotspots, such as the Greek island of Santorini, are commonly used as taxis, carrying passengers or luggage. An independent report produced last year1 revealed that many of these animals are forced to carry overweight passengers and are denied access to shade, water and rest for hours at a time

Santorini donkey taxi with tourist cruise ship in the background

The case of Alicante - Together, we can...

It is our firm wish to keep you up to date with the cases we deal with at El Refugio del Burrito. We’d like to let you have an update on the Alicante rescue case, the largest we have faced since we started our work in Spain. It was in Callosa de Segura, in the Alicante province, where we discovered that a dealer had about 49 horses in deplorable conditions. Tied 24 hours a day, locked and with limited access to food and water; literally starving. We were able to rescue 9 donkeys we found there.

You are here

Welfare