An estimated 500 million people in some of the world’s poorest economies depend on donkeys for their livelihoods. Donkeys are a vital source of income and upward mobility for many of the most vulnerable communities. Yet, the interdependence between human and animal welfare is generally poorly understood in the development and humanitarian sectors. This leads to dichotomized funding decisions that exclude animal welfare. Recognizing that human welfare depends on animal (and planetary) welfare is a necessary step in the design and implementation of successful developmental interventions.
Founders of the Eseltjiesrus Donkey Sanctuary (EDS), Dr. Johan and Ms. Annemarie van Zijl, have over the past 16 years demonstrated just how effective an integrated welfare approach can be.
DevelopmentAid author, Dr. M. Weideman, interviewed Dr. Johan van Zijl in May 2023. Dr. van Zijl is a humble, caring, and agreeable man who lives out his belief that “we are the custodians of all forms of life around us, and we have an ethical obligation to address the suffering of those who are unable to speak”.
The interview touched on the socio-economic importance of donkeys in the developing world; how investment in donkey welfare could contribute to the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals; the abuses donkeys experience, including through the growing donkey skins trade; the services the Sanctuary provides; the principles of humane education; and the work of African country networks in knowledge generation and the promotion of donkey and community welfare.
Excerpts from the interview and content from the EDS and Donkeys for Africa (DfA) libraries are presented below.
Q: What inspired you to found Eseltjiesrus?
Following a life of service as an academic psychologist and health worker in public clinics, Dr van Zijl sought to retire to McGregor, a small town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
“My plan was to rest and relax, but we soon became aware of two blindfolded, emaciated, sickly donkeys who were operating an unmechanized brick mill. When the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals approached us to assist, we decided to give the donkeys a place to live out their last days without pain, fear or hunger”.
“That was the beginning of a learning journey. We soon understood the interdependence between the many donkeys in need of care and support” and the impoverished communities who depend on donkeys for their survival, but lack the resources, knowledge, or services required to provide adequate care.
Accordingly, Eseltjiesrus (meaning resting place for little donkeys) was registered as a not-for-profit organization in 2007. The Sanctuary is now internationally recognized, provides outreach and education services, and (as this song illustrates) serves as a permanent home for retired, neglected, or destitute donkeys. Twenty-one donkeys have peacefully lived out their last days at EDS, 31 currently have a home at the Sanctuary, and safe homes have been found for numerous others. Many more are helped through outreach and educational projects.
EDS’s mission is to promote the status (i.e., perceptions of) and welfare of donkeys, and by extension the welfare of the communities who depend on donkeys for their survival.
“Our motto is a ‘Culture of Caring’ for animals, people, and the environment. From the outset our focus has been on the six components that make care possible i.e., compassion, connection, community, consistency, clarity, and creativity”.
Q: What is the socio-economic importance of donkeys in the developing world?
“There is an intersection between donkey welfare and the welfare of owners. Protecting and caring for the one, benefits both. Donkeys are a valuable economic, social, and emotional asset”.
Investing in the welfare of donkeys can contribute to the attainment of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Donkeys that are safe, healthy, and cared for can provide donkey traction for localized (SDG 12) organic and sustainable food production (SDG 2) as well as other income-generating activities, e.g., agriculture and transportation (SDG 1 and 8). Donkey transportation is sustainable, green, and carbon neutral (SDG 13) and can be used to transport individuals to health (SDG 3) or educational (SDG 4) facilities. Working with donkeys lightens women’s unpaid care-work burden, increases their financial independence, and facilitates (through increased time and transport) girls’ access to education (SDGs 4, 5 and 9). Better care for donkeys also prevents zoonotic diseases (SDG 3).
As income-generating working animals, donkeys are gentler on the earth than other working animals. They are efficient feeders and do not overgraze. They consume comparatively little water, do not cause land degradation, and do not compact the soil when working in food gardens. They assist communities to produce food in an environmentally sound way that protects the soil and increases biodiversity (SDG 15).
Q: What are some of EDS’s key education and outreach activities?
EDS is involved in various educational initiatives (based on the One Health, One Welfare concept) targeting inter alia donkey-dependent communities, veterinary services, and the public.
Donkeys are neglected within the curricula of the veterinary profession. EDS seeks to address this by providing One Health, One Welfare workshops to vets, students, animal welfare workers, and others in the sector. The workshops are accredited by the South African Veterinary Council and professionals earn Continuing Professional Development points when attending.
Public education occurs when trained guides sensitize visitors to the Sanctuary on the “charms and needs” of donkeys.
“We have sensitized thousands, probably more than 100,000 people to the needs of donkeys, the interdependence between human and animal welfare, and how to better care for donkeys to improve their quality of life, as well as the socio-economic status of their owners. We receive between five and six thousand visitors per year. We achieve our aim when visitors leave the Sanctuary as donkey ambassadors”.
School and youth groups participate in age-appropriate activities to develop knowledge and compassion. This presents an opportunity for mutual healing. Co-founder Annemarie explains, “for children who come from abusive homes, interaction with one of our donkeys provides a rare experience of touching and being touched with unconditional love”.
EDS uses the principles of humane education which nurtures compassion and respect for all living things, and an understanding of connectedness and the impact of our actions and decisions on the lives of others. By developing compassion, empathy and personal responsibility, humane education breaks the well-documented link between childhood cruelty to animals and later criminality and the perpetuation of interpersonal violence.
EDS’s international reach is extensive. It includes ‘Donkeys for Africa’ (DfA), a network of donkey welfare organizations in 22 African countries that produces knowledge products and distributes these through its website, newsletters, online library, and social media platforms. DfA is a member of the Donkey Network, which addresses the global donkey skins trade; collaborates with the World Horse Welfare/British Equine Veterinary Trust to produce content for donkey welfare webinars; contributes resources to the University of Pretoria Community Engagement Newsletter, and runs a 24-hour helpline for queries pertaining to donkey care and welfare.
“We get calls from all over the country to assist with a range of donkey-related problems”.
Many of EDS’s education and outreach initiatives seek to correct pervasive negative perceptions about donkeys.
“People think of donkeys as stupid, stubborn, slow, simple, or ugly. In truth, they are intelligent, intuitive, gentle, humble, stoic, complex sentient beings with distinct and diverse personalities. If they are cared for and free of fear and suffering, they are hard-working and loyal”.
EDS’s theory of change is that “once the status of donkeys has improved, their value will be recognized, and their welfare will be taken seriously”.
Q: What are some of the ways in which donkeys are either purposely or inadvertently mistreated?
Donkeys are over-worked, under-fed, beaten and not provided with adequate shelter. Other examples of pervasive maltreatment include:
- Donkey owners often do not have the resources available to purchase correct harnesses. They resort to heavy and unsuitable ox-yokes or homemade harnesses that make the work more difficult for the animals and cause injuries and chronic wounding. Fortunately, organizations like the Zambezi Working Donkey Project distribute humane harnesses that allow wounds to heal and prevent future pain and injury.
- Many donkeys are underfed and suffer greatly as a result. It is equally important that donkeys have access to the correct types and amounts of food. Over-feeding donkeys can lead to fatal hyperlipaemia.
- Thousands of donkeys are killed annually for the donkey-skins trade while others are fattened to be slaughtered for lion food.
- A widespread practice of handling donkeys by twisting their ears is painful and can cause permanent nerve and muscular damage, preventing the donkeys from communicating normally with their fellows, damaging hearing, and causing infections.
- Donkeys need regular veterinary care, for example to treat their hooves and teeth. Failure to do so can cause immense suffering. Yet, veterinary services are generally not available in, nor affordable to, donkey owning communities.
“Donkeys’ teeth keep growing and they need to eat specific high fiber food to ensure that their teeth are ground down. If not, these pointy teeth keep growing and they cut into their opposite jaws. This is extremely painful, and if not treated, they starve to death”. On average, working donkeys have a lifespan of 10 to 12 years, but “if well cared for, they can work productively for 20 years”.
- Beatings and other mistreatment occur because “people don’t understand donkeys. They think of them as little horses. They are not. A threatened horse will attempt to sprint away from danger. A terrified donkey will freeze. They are not stubborn or lazy. Donkeys think before they act”.
Q: How does the “trade” in donkey-skins affect donkeys and the communities that rely on them for livelihood generation and access to services?
The “trade” in donkey skins (i.e., the ejiao “industry”) is a global crisis causing rapid declines in the donkey population to the extent that some experts fear extinction. The donkey population in Kenya, for example, declined from 1.8 million to 1.1 million in the preceding decade, mainly through slaughter at four abattoirs (each with the capacity to kill 1,260 donkeys per day). In China, where much of the demand for the skins originates, the donkey population has declined from 11 million to just 2.6 million. Yet the demand for donkey skins continues to increase. In 2019, the ejiao industry required an estimated 4.8 million donkey skins per annum. This increasing demand has led to theft and cross-border donkey smuggling and has been linked to illegal trafficking in wildlife and drugs.
This has devastating consequences for vulnerable communities who are deprived of their livelihood and production strategies, modes of transport, and means to access water, clinics, schools, and other basic services.
The unhygienic and unregulated transport and slaughtering processes increase the risk of the global spread of infections and zoonotic diseases such as anthrax and tetanus.
The donkeys affected by the trade experience extreme suffering. A 2019 report on the crisis found that “sourcing is often indiscriminate, with mares in the late stages of pregnancy, young foals and sick and injured donkeys entering the trade. They are often transported, sometimes for days on end, in overcrowded trucks without food, water or rest. In some cases, up to 20 percent of donkeys will be dead by the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse. Others will have broken or severed legs, or infected wounds, and are near starvation. On arrival at the slaughterhouse, donkeys can be held for days in packed compounds, again without access to food or water, before finally being slaughtered, often brutally. As injury and illness do not outwardly affect the quality of the skin, there is no incentive for local traders to ensure the humane treatment of donkeys. The death of a donkey due to injury, disease, thirst, starvation, or stress is, at times, viewed favorably as slaughter fees are avoided and the skin is still processed”.
Dr van Zijl feels strongly that Eseltjiesrus must remain part of a network of organizations and governments working to protect these donkeys and the communities who depend on them.
Q: What are your key strategies for funding the Sanctuary?
“Our guiding principle, from day one, has been to always give donors something in return . . . we endeavor to build lasting relationships with our donors/supporters, regardless of how big or small their contribution is”.
A large proportion (53%) of EDS’s income is generated through the “virtual donkey adoption” project. Caring patrons choose a donkey and the amount they want to donate on a one-off or ongoing basis. In return, the adopters receive an adoption certificate, regular reports, copies of the EDS newsletter, and are free to visit their adoptee.
“It is always very sad for our adopters when their donkey passes away, or we must euthanize”.
EDS also welcomes donations and bequests.
“One of our other successful income-generating activities is the annual book sale. It has become the biggest book sale in the Western Cape, with approximately 3,000 visitors per year. We sell 14,000+ books per sale. Most are new and sold at a third or a quarter of the usual selling price. We also sell collectable, out of print, and rare books”.
EDS has a visitors’ center and coffee shop for members of the public who visit the Sanctuary. Visits to the Sanctuary are free of charge.
Q: EDS’s financial independence and the commitments of private contributors are commendable, but why is there not more funding from the international donor community?
“We are a small, but growing organization. Large donors generally do not fund smaller organizations. Furthermore, very few international donors fund animal welfare because the interdependence between human and animal welfare is not well understood. Donors that do fund animal welfare tend to focus on wildlife, domestic pets, or well-known production animals. Donkeys just fall through the cracks”.
Q: What plans are in place to ensure organizational sustainability?
The Sanctuary has been operating for 17 years. This demonstrates a significant level of sustainability.
“We strive to be recognized by what we finish, not by what we start or plan”.
EDS has multiple effective strategies for sustainability in place. These include:
- Owning the land on which the Sanctuary is located.
“When we started, we rented land, and that was difficult for many reasons. Some farmers did not want donkeys on their land, and we had no tenure security. The leases were 6-month leases, so that was always very stressful. We realized early on that we needed to purchase land, but that was very challenging. The banks were unwilling to give us a loan. We approached all the banks, until one finally agreed to grant us a loan. . . We managed to settle our bond in 8 years! We wanted to get that done as soon as possible because we needed the security”.
- Having high credibility, a strong independent Board of Directors, and sound financial management practices and controls in place.
“EDS has a very strong Board. Members include high profile legal and financial sector experts . . . We run a very tight ship financially. That promotes sustainability and credibility”.
- Ensuring that “EDS is not linked to a person or a personality, or “built around the founders” but is rather a “professionalized” organization.
“We have a succession plan in place, and this goes a long way in promoting sustainability. EDS will continue long after the founders have passed on”.
- Engaging in strategic planning and evaluating ongoing performance.
“We also appointed two independent research and development consultants to help us plan for the organization’s future”. The strategic plan is supported by three-year budgeting processes and income-generating projects.
- Plans are in place for the creation of an endowment “sizeable enough to fund the running costs of the Sanctuary. It is our hope that a large proportion of the endowment will come from bequests and donations”.
Q: What are the plans for the immediate future?
EDS’s top priorities for the coming years include continuing all existing projects and activities; increasing capacity to house more donkeys; employing more environmentally sustainable practices including converting to solar energy; and securing reliable water supply. The Sanctuary also wishes to expand its outreach to South African and sub-Saharan communities through its new ‘Reimagining our Future’ project.
“We are planning to train community members to become knowledgeable donkey-welfare ambassadors in their communities. That will extend our reach beyond our own capacity. For this we will need additional dedicated funding”.
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