DS research

When targeting human behaviour change for animal welfare improvement, engaging with communities is vital. Equid-reliant communities are often resource poor, geographically isolated and disparities in literacy rates are common, presenting challenges to ‘traditional’ forms of engagement. Arts-based initiatives using non-written communication methods such as storytelling and performance, may be ideal media to convey positive welfare messages. In this study we evaluate the feasibility of using forum theatre to sensitise donkey-reliant communities regarding key welfare issues. Through a co-creation process, a piece of interactive forum theatre on donkey welfare was produced and staged for the public and in local schools. Post-performance questionnaire data were collected from adults and both pre- and post-performance data in schools to evaluate changes in knowledge and attitudes resulting from the performance. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using Likert scales and open questions, respectively. Audience feedback was positive, with more than 90% of audiences strongly agreeing that they enjoyed the performance. More than 85% of adult respondents strongly agreed that the performance raised their awareness of three key indicators: donkey health needs; donkey welfare needs; and how much donkeys should carry. For youth audiences, comparison of pre- and post-performance measures demonstrated positive changes in the belief that donkeys feel pain, how much individuals liked donkeys and how confident they felt in identifying how a donkey was feeling. Although participatory arts-based approaches remain rare in the animal welfare sector, the study highlights the potential value of these methods in promoting community engagement for positive animal welfare changes.

No abstract is available for this article.

Working equids play a central role in mountainous communities, but their work often goes unnoticed by the wider world, with sparse documentation of their role, value, or welfare – a state which often extends to their human counterparts. Communities living in the remote Manaslu Valley, Nepal, face a number of uncertainties, including extreme weather events due to the seasonal monsoon and, more recently, the construction of a new road network. Using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and Equine Assessment Research and Scoping (EARS) welfare assessments, we outline the specific role of pack mules in supporting the lives of local people, explain the nuanced links between human experience and mule welfare, and gain insight into how people living in this volatile environment manage uncertainty and risk. Mule work was felt to be the ‘only option’ for a sustainable livelihood for most mule owners although, in some cases, mules had enabled respondents to diversify their income. Mule owners with more husbandry experience did not own mules in more positive behavioural states, which may suggest a lack of generational knowledge and support networks. Short-term ongoing risks, such as the monsoon or unstable tracks, had a larger impact both financially and emotionally than the long-term but distant implications of the road construction. Mule owners must constantly balance the risk of working during the monsoon season, when conditions are treacherous but pay was higher, with losing valuable income but keeping themselves and their mules safe; they do, however, have a more mobile option for employment than non-owners. Mules enable a level of resilience and agility for communities living with constant uncertainty and change, which is only beginning to be recognised formally within the sustainable development sphere. Integration of animal welfare into the SDGs would allow humanitarian aid initiatives to strengthen support networks around working equids, which would greatly benefit the mules and humans alike.

A corpus linguistic approach has been applied to examine the representation of donkeys in public discourses for an international equid welfare charity (The Donkey Sanctuary) with a view to improving the British public's understanding of the roles of donkeys, in Britain and worldwide. By increasing understanding of public perceptions, this study aims to support improvements in donkey welfare through targeted education.

The study explored patterning in public discourses about donkeys (online and print news and social media) using corpus linguistic (CL) techniques and tools, supplemented with methods from discourse analysis. The findings highlight key representations of donkeys in public and media discourses that are not present in informed discourses about the animals. In this paper, we examine the results of the corpus study from the perspective of one current aim from The Donkey Sanctuary's public engagement strategy: to promote understanding of donkeys as sentient beings with the capacity to experience a wide range of emotional responses to events or situations.

We found that donkey experience is more subtly represented in the discourses than other aspects of donkey lives, such as actions and behaviours, which have more obvious, overt representations. The results demonstrate the value of applying the CL framework for researchers and practitioners involved in textual analysis for charity communications and public awareness campaigns. We discuss the implications that our findings have for donkey welfare—and animal welfare more generally—as well as what such a methodology could offer other organisations providing public education and/or relying on philanthropic support from the public.

The presentation of colitis in the donkey may differ from that in the horse. Donkeys typically mask signs of pain and illness, and diarrhoea is not common in colitis. Recognition, treatment and management of colitis requires an underlying understanding of donkey-specific behaviours and an awareness of differences in the pharmacokinetics of certain medications. Colitis may present comorbidly with other pathophysiology, and a careful stepwise diagnostic approach to the dull donkey is essential.