United Kingdom

Donkeys have significant behaviour variations in comparison with horses, due to each species evolving in different environments. Donkeys have a reduced flight response compared with horses, but an increased tendency to display fight or freeze behaviours. Unlike horses, they can display territorial, defensive behaviour and show a wide range of sexual behaviours that require consideration during management. Donkeys can bond strongly to other donkeys or animals and separating bonded companions can cause stress severe enough to induce the potentially fatal condition hyperlipaemia. Donkeys show stoic body language in response to pain. Awareness of subtle behavioural indicators of fear and pain can improve donkey welfare and improve handler safety.

The last twenty years have seen increased interest in animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and animal-assisted activity (AAA). However, there has been little research exploring these interactions as experienced by the animals themselves. In this paper, we bring a “more-than-human” lens to concepts and practices within AAA/T, synthesizing ideas about animal sentience and subjectivity that have emerged within animal geography scholarship and animal welfare science. We draw from empirical work with practitioners involved in donkey-facilitated learning (DFL) to examine the knowledge base of equine facilitators, including their beliefs, opinions, and assumptions about donkeys, their understanding of animal welfare, and their role in DFL. We discuss how knowledge of donkeys is mobilized to ensure more-than-human welfare during DFL; how animals’ “choice” to participate is encouraged and centered; how ideas of nonhuman labor create opportunities for considering more-than-human welfare; and how practitioners advocate for animals and embed practices of care for humans and nonhumans.

The suckling behavior of donkey foals has rarely been explored, with most orphans being reared on protocols based on the assumption that their behavior and physiology do not differ from horses. An orphaned donkey foal at The Donkey Sanctuary was reared on an artificial suckling system, enabling the analysis of suckling behavior in an orphaned donkey. Milk formula was accessible 24-hours per day via the artificial system and suckling behavior was monitored, revealing that the foal suckled at a variable rate, with suckling durations, frequency and quantities differing from what was outlined in the standard bottle-feeding protocol for equines.

Background: Donkeys make up a small but important percentage of patients seen by equine and mixed practices, but, while similar to horses in many respects, they have different management needs. Many of these differences are evident in the anaesthesia setting, and differentiating the treatment of donkeys from ‘small horses’ can lead to better outcomes for patients, owners and practices.

Aim of the article: This article highlights the differences between donkeys and horses with regards to induction and maintenance of anaesthesia and provides practical tips about performing safe anaesthesia of donkeys.

Maintaining animal health and performance relies on the availability of an appropriate diet. For herbivores, accurate assessment of forage nutrient quality is critical for appropriate diet formulation and rationing, including potential supplementation. Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) is a rapid method that is used in place of traditional chemical methodologies (wet chemistry) to predict analyte contents in forage samples. The method relies on scanning a sample with near-infrared light and predicting the analyte content by comparing the reflected spectra to a model which has been developed with samples of known analyte content measured by wet chemistry. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of four NIRS-based methods on haylage from seven farm holdings compared with wet chemistry (the control). We analysed 64 samples for a range of analytes (dry matter (DM), pH, ash, acid detergent fibre expressed inclusive of residual ash (ADF), neutral detergent fibre assayed with a heat stable amylase and expressed inclusive of residual ash (aNDF), crude protein and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC)) commonly assessed for haylage quality in equid nutrition. We compared results obtained by wet chemistry to corresponding NIRS-based predictions from four commercially available NIRS services. The results revealed large discrepancies amongst all five methods. For DM, average bias (mean±SD) for three reported methods was -15.5±188.4, -10.1±50.4, 12.9±33.8 g/kg respectively and for WSC reporting positive bias from four methods of 26.9±51.3, 24.8±38.2, 26.2±50.1 and 14.5±45.2, g/Kg respectively. The extent of these discrepancies from the wet chemistry also varied by analyte where for example, predictions for DM were more reliable than those for WSC and results demonstrated that predictions obtained by NIRS could result in feeding forage outside of target nutritional values.

Assessment of chronic pain is very important for monitoring and improving welfare and quality of life in donkeys. Freedom from disease and pain is one of the ‘five freedoms’ underlying animal welfare. The aim of the current study was to develop a pain scale for assessment of chronic pain in donkeys (Donkey Chronic Pain Scale; DCPS), including behavioural and facial expression-related parameters. The scale was applied to 77 donkeys (38 donkeys diagnosed with chronic health problems by means of clinical examination and additional diagnostic procedures and 39 healthy control animals). Animals were assessed twice daily for three consecutive days by two observers that were not masked to the condition of the animals but were unaware of the analgesic treatment regimens. Both composite, facial expression-based and combined DCPS pain scales showed excellent inter-observer reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.98, 0.96 and 0.98 respectively; P < 0.001). Individual composite and facial expression-based pain scores and the resulting combined DCPS showed significant differences between donkeys with chronic conditions and control donkeys at all time points (P < 0.001). A DCPS cut-off of 6 showed good sensitivity and specificity (92% and 82.5% respectively) for presence of a chronic painful condition. Facial expression-related parameters separately showed low sensitivity. In conclusion, it is possible to use a composite pain scale for assessment of chronic pain in donkeys, based on behavioural and facial expression-based parameters. Further studies are needed to validate this pain scale before it can be used in veterinary practice.