The Role of the Donkey in the Development of Rural Communities and its Potential within Animal-Assisted Interventions

Helena Peterková

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

In poor communities in developing countries donkeys are used for work and are commonly affected with health and non-physical welfare problems, such as fear of humans and depression. But donkeys can also contribute to Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI), a form of rehabilitation developed to support conventional treatments. Supporting improvements in the physical, mental, social, communication, and behavioural development of clients. The aims of this thesis are: a) to identify the main roles of donkeys in rural communities nowadays, their potential to contribute to the family budget and the level of care they obtain in current conditions; b) to review the scientific literature about Donkey Assisted Intervention and define the specific fields, where the donkeys are and might be used as therapies and what are the predispositions of a therapeutic donkey (specific behaviour, age, sex, physiology). The results show that donkeys are used as cheap, affordable, and sustainable power sources for people within rural communities, but the level of care they receive varies and poor welfare conditions are often present. When donkeys are used as therapists, they show excellent results while improving the physical, mental, social, communication, and behavioural development of clients. The donkey seems to be a suitable therapeutic animal thanks to its low level of aggressive behaviour towards humans (compared to horses) and positive perception from the client’s side as well. Based on the search within scientific databases according to the pre-selected keywords (for example: donkey, therapy, equids), only 78 papers dealing with donkeys and therapies were found, compared to 4,370 papers about horses and therapies. Lack of information about the characteristics of donkeys used for therapy (even sex or age) makes the selection of appropriate therapeutic donkeys almost impossible, therefore more research in this area is urgently needed.

Keywords

donkey, community, welfare, human-animal bond, animal therapy

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 15. 4. 2021

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Mgr. Martina Komárková, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Bachelor programme / field:
Tropical Agriculture / International Cooperation in Agriculture and Rural Development