Philippa Davies's blog

There’s been some encouraging progress in our work with the donkey and mule owners in the brick kilns at Badli, near New Delhi.

When it comes to donkey welfare, it pays to advertise. At least, that’s the case in a busy shopping area near the brick kilns of Badli, a village west of New Delhi, just across the border in Haryana state. Thanks to our team’s work with the local community, pictures and messages promoting donkey welfare are displayed on walls where donkey owners are bound to see them.

Because so much of our international work involves helping overworked and neglected donkeys, it’s easy to get the impression that owners simply don’t care about their animals. That’s why I wanted to pass on this very moving story from one of our staff in Ethiopia, about an owner who appreciated his hard-working mule so much that he stood up at a community event with the mule by his side, and made a heartfelt speech about the difference she had made to his life.

My recent visit to India was something I will never forget. Not only was it my first experience of a country and culture so different from my own - it was also the first time I’d seen for myself the amazing work our Indian team do every day, and the people they are helping.

Our overseas teams often find themselves up against deep-rooted negative attitudes towards donkeys, which lead people to undervalue their hard-working animals and make them hard to convince that the donkeys deserve better care. One of our teams in Ethiopia have come up with an unusual way to change people’s thinking within this culture.

One of our supporters, Brenda Sterry, visited some of our projects in India earlier this year. Miss Sterry was on a personal pilgrimage to Gwalior, where her father had been stationed during the Second World War, but she was also very keen to see the Donkey Sanctuary’s work.