Donkey welfare
Our mission is to promote donkey and mule welfare in Spain. Our commitment is to be able to offer help and/or permanent refuge to any donkey or mule that, as a result of abandonment, illness, cruelty or any other reason, is in need of it.
We carry out investigations and campaigns to stop the cruelty, ill or unnatural treatment these animals are still unfortunately suffering.
We are making owners, vets, farriers and other professionals or associations related to these animals aware of the proper way of caring for their donkeys and mules by means of facilitating them with the "Professional Handbook of the Donkey" and other publications.
Latest welfare stories
A new start...
Submitted by Rafael Benjumea on Thu, 12/01/2012 - 15:37
With the New Year, a new life has also begun for some donkeys and mules; the very first ones to join our big family in 2012.
From Almería in South-Eastern Spain, three animals have just joined us. They are Juan, Andrea, Negrita, Rosy and Poppy.
Here's a photo of them and some information on how they came to join us here at El Refugio.
Tourist taxi fines bring hope for Santorini donkeys
Submitted by Rafael Benjumea on Tue, 25/10/2011 - 07:14
International animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary is today celebrating as a new system of fines brings hope of improved conditions for donkeys and mules working as tourist taxis on the Greek island of Santorini. Andrew Judge, The Donkey Sanctuary’s Head of European Operations, explains:
“The new system of fines symbolises a real breakthrough in the recognition of animal welfare on the island. After years of campaigning, and working closely with SAWA (Santorini Animal Welfare Association) and the local authorities, we recently established a code of practice in the Municipality of Fira, setting out acceptable standards of animal welfare and ensuring that only animals fit enough to work are allowed to do so. It also sets out limits on the number of donkeys and mules an operator can hire out as tourist taxis on any one day. In September we were delighted to see this code of practice enforced by fines for those who were found not to comply with this legislation which protects the welfare of these hardworking animals.
El Rocío 2011
Submitted by Rafael Benjumea on Wed, 06/07/2011 - 09:23
El Refugio del Burrito was present at this year’s edition of El Rocío pilgrimage to evaluate the situation regarding the welfare of donkeys and mules at this famous festival. We have been gathering all the information to present you with a report on what we saw, and what we think could be improved. We will also be sending a letter to the Mayor of Almonte highlighting the problems and offering ideas for improvement on subsequent editions.
This is the information we were able to gather:
There were over 17,000 animals in Rocio during the 11th to the 13th of June (about 4000 of these were mules and 500 donkeys). Animals were arriving from all over Spain; however no controls were done, neither to see the paperwork of the animals, microchip or the general health of the animals.
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