In popular culture the humble donkey is as emblematic of Spain as a bull or a flamenco dancer. From the sublime little fat Sancho Panza riding alongside Don Quijote, to the ridiculous straw donkeys sold in tourist shops, this beast of burden has become folkloric in its symbolisation of all that is Spanish. So it is shocking to learn that of the six species native to Spain every single one is in danger of extinction. The Córdoban is the largest and there are less than 100 pure bred ones remaining. The working donkey or mule (the offspring of a mare and donkey) is an increasingly rare sight in Spain, although it is still seen in parts of rural Andalucía and Galicia. At the end of the civil war (1939) there were an estimated 1,250,000 donkeys in the country but the figure is now down to just 65,000.

1. In popular culture the humble donkey is as emblematic of Spain as a bull
or a flamenco dancer. From the sublime little fat Sancho Panza riding
alongside Don Quijote, to the ridiculous straw donkeys sold in tourist
shops, this beast of burden has become folkloric in its symbolisation of
all that is Spanish. So it is shocking to learn that of the six species native
to Spain every single one is in danger of extinction. The Córdoban is the
largest and there are less than 100 pure bred ones remaining.
The working donkey or mule (the offspring of a mare and donkey) is an
increasingly rare sight in Spain, although it is still seen in parts of rural
Andalucía and Galicia. At the end of the civil war (1939) there were an
estimated 1,250,000 donkeys in the country but the figure is now down
to just 65,000.
Intelligent, cautious, friendly, playful, and eager to learn, they have been
used since before recorded history to carry loads, pull carts and take
riders. Donkeys have a reputation for stubbornness but studies now show
that this is in fact a highly developed sense of self preservation. It is
almost impossible to force a donkey into doing something that is against
its best interests. A horse, for example will walk along a path where the

2. footing is unsafe; a donkey will not. Though slower than horses they
live longer and are cheaper to keep. Their great endurance and agility
has made them popular work animals and in many developing countries
they are still of vital economic importance.
Donkeys were among the pack animals used to carry silk from the
Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean along the 'Silk Road' in return for
trade goods. The overland route was approximately 6,400 kilometres and
the journey lasted several years. Because of the length of the expedition,
no single animal completed the entire journey and mixing of breeds
occurred as unplanned matings occurred en-route. The journey ended in
Greece, Italy, the Middle East and Alexandria in Egypt. The Greeks
were delighted with the donkeys, which were found to be ideal animals
for working on the narrow paths between the vines.
Their use in vineyards spread through the Mediterranean countries to
Spain where they quickly also became the principle means of transport
for people and goods. Their surefootedness and fortitude made them the
ideal animal for Spain’s inhospitable terrain. From the departure of the
Romans to the turn of the last century few roads were built in Spain and
even the main routes were in a poor state. Donkey trains over
precarious, muddy and rocky tracks were the mainstay of the avenues
between cities, towns and villages. They laboured on building sites,

3. were taken to battlefields to carry supplies and drag guns for the army,
they turned mills and having worked the land they carried the produce to
market.
But apart from some rural areas in Spain this ubiquitous symbol of toil
has all but disappeared and its decline has been caused mainly by the
mechanisation of agriculture and the gradual abandonment of the rural
way of life. Young people are seduced by towns and cities and the way
of life that continued right up until the 1960s has rapidly waned.
Although to northern Europeans the donkey is looked upon as not only
cuddly but worthy of our respect, the Spanish are not nearly so
sentimental. The donkey has traditionally been an object of scorn in
folklore and there are countless Spanish phrases that define the burro as
a slow, stupid and stubborn animal. Modern Spanish dictionaries give a
second definition of burro as: ‘idiot’, ‘oaf’, ‘stupid’. Despite the fact that
the cross on the donkey’s back is supposed to be a holy mark in
recognition of a donkey carrying Jesus into Nazareth you get the feeling
that the beast hasn’t quite been forgiven by fiercely Catholic Spain for
delivering the Saviour to his fate.
Where donkeys are still used as working animals their treatment can
give cause for concern and the older animals are frequently turned out to
fend for themselves. Over the last decade, sanctuaries have been opened
in Spain to preserve and rescue breeds that are in danger of extinction.
As you might expect where animals are concerned, the British are keen
to help, with popular registered charity the Donkey Sanctuary opening
its first European sanctuary in Spain, near Malaga. El Refugio del
Burrito aims to provide permanent refuge to any donkey or mule in need
of sanctuary. The replacement of traditional working donkeys with
machinery resulted in the abandonment of many donkeys that had
already been neglected. Latest figures suggest there are around 140,000
donkeys and mules in Spain. Run by Director of European Operations,
Paul Svendsen, the son of Dr Elisabeth Svendsen who founded the

4. Donkey Sanctuary in 1969 who has been encouraged by the good
response from the Spanish authorities and believes it is the right time to
start working in Spain.
"I believe animal welfare in Spain is beginning to improve. We saw
legislation introduced in 2003 enforcing the protection of animals used
during festivals in the region of Extremadura. With El Refugio Del
Burrito registered as a Spanish association we can now lobby for further
improvements in legislation for donkeys and mules throughout the
country.”
The Sanctuary’s most famous rescue was ‘Blackie’ a donkey that was
earmarked to take part in the "Pero Palo" Fiesta in Extremadura’s Villa
Nueva de la Vera on Shrove Tuesday when the animal is jostled and
dragged through the village by a partially drunken crowd. Fed alcohol
and sat on by the heaviest man in the village the animal usually collapses
and dies. Blackie was taken to the Sanctuary in Devon to end her years
and Extremadura banned the fiesta.
El Refugio is particularly keen to preserve the Andalucian Giant
Donkey, one of the most ancient breeds of European donkeys with Jacks
(males) reaching as high as 16 hands (1.6m), which is as tall as a large
horse. These are pure breed donkeys, not mules but a recent study
suggests that there are as few as 120 of these amazing giants left making
them a seriously endangered indigenous species. Traditionally these
giant donkeys have always been found in Southern Spain, where
formerly they were used extensively by the military, to cross breed with
horses, producing a very strong mule, well suited to carrying munitions
and provisions. They have been almost totally replaced in both these
areas of work by mechanisation.

5. Because of this mechanisation, these donkeys become a liability and
together with many other donkeys of pure and cross breeds, are often
collected together by dealers and shipped, under often quite horrendous
conditions, with few stops and little water and food, to other European
countries, where they are slaughtered and may be used as a prized
ingredient in some salamis.
They were also employed in the cork forests, olive and citrus groves,
and carrying out almost any heavy work, including ploughing, pulling
carts and for riding
In 1989 PascualRovira set up the ‘Asociaciónpara la Defensa del
Borrico’ (ADEBO) in the little town of Rute, in the heart of the lovely
Parque de la Sierra sub-Bética His efforts to publicise the plight of the
donkey have already gone a long way towards putting Rute on the map.
Pascual has donated donkeys as gifts to the Spanish royal family and
even to Bill Clinton to raise awareness about the animals. More than a
hundred donkeys have been rescued from all over Spain and there are
representatives of most of the national breeds.