Donkeys In Africa

by Linda Purdy

• In Ethiopia, a donkey costs at least half the annual family income. They are considered the most important possession a family can own. If not for the donkey, most families would not be able to support themselves. Such is the importance of the donkey worldwide.
• There are approximately 90 million donkeys at work in third world nations including Tunisia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Turkey, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Morocco. Their contribution to subsistence farming and the basic economy of the particular population of these and other countries is enormous. The donkey is the workhorse that powers the subsistence based agricultural industry that supports the populations of these nations on every inhabited continent in the world.
• Today, as the world becomes a smaller place, there is a call for better care for one of humanity’s greatest allies in the struggle for daily survival. Healthy donkeys mean healthier children to the families who incorporate them in the cultivation of their land. These people are eager to learn better techniques for keeping their donkeys healthier and living longer, more productive lives because their own survival depends upon these animals.
• It is only in the industrialized nations of the western world where donkeys are kept as pets. Everywhere else in the world they are an integral part of the economic structure.
• Reproduction of the donkey is an important part of donkey ownership. Donkeys are carefully bred to produce strong, long-lived work animals that are unsentimentally valued as contributing members of the family within which they live. Subjects such as artificial insemination, reproductive health of the jennet, and foaling information are important topics of field education for third world nations.
• Nutrition and basic husbandry is also important as the welfare of the family depends on the health of the donkey or donkeys owned.
• It is interesting to note that the donkeys owned by a rural family are most often cared for by the women. If not for the donkey, the women become the beasts of burden, whereupon they weaken under the work load and often sicken and die, devastating or completely destroying the family unit. In Ethiopia, when a donkey dies, the women cling together and weep.
• Research, both lab based and field, is needed in order to bring the level of donkey breeding and management to an efficient level in order to meet the needs of these third world populations dependent on subsistence agriculture.

The UMass International Donkey Project was initiated to contribute to the global good through education and research projects for donkeys.

Interested parties should contact Dr. Steve Purdy at:

Stephen R. Purdy, DVM

Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences

University of Massachusetts Hadley Farm

111 North Maple Street, Hadley, MA 01035

413-549-3820

srpurdy@vasci.umass.edu