Every week children receive visits from The Donkey Sanctuary’s education team in Mexico City and the surrounding area.

The education team aims to improve the conditions of working donkeys by visiting schools and teaching children how to care for their donkeys.

Ofelia Gunzalez Alvarez is a teacher at Lic Leon Guzman School in El Zarzal and she explains: “The visits from The Donkey Sanctuary to the school have had a positive effect on all the children.

“The children now talk about the values of caring for a donkey and they understand that these animals are like humans and that they need to be respected.

“The children even understand the basic needs of giving their donkeys food and shelter.

“The donkeys have had a calming effect on the students too. There is one little boy called Pascual who was very disruptive in the classroom and was always causing trouble but he’s changed. He’s become much friendlier and his grades have improved.

“Pascual told me the other the day that he would very much like to own a donkey in the future so that he can take care of him, play with him and cuddle him. The visits to the school have even inspired him to train to be a vet.

“The educational visits in Mexico are reaching out to many children - they do drawings at home of food and water for their donkey which they show to their parents and siblings, all of which helps spread the word about the basic needs of these humble creatures.”

The Donkey Sanctuary has been working in Mexico City and the surrounding areas since 1984 and is based at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). As the objectives of The Donkey Sanctuary are restricted to treating donkeys and mules, the charity works in partnership with World Horse Welfare (WHW), formerly known as the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH), as so many horses are also in need of help.