The Americas

Brazil has reinstated a countrywide ban on the slaughter of donkeys for export to China.

Research into the welfare of working equids in three Mexican states has underpinned their value to their communities and the importance of good donkey welfare across the globe.

Gabriel was just one of over 700 donkeys destined for the skin trade and abandoned in a holding pen in Brazil. Following our recent emergency trip to the pen, we tell their story.

Emergency teams from The Donkey Sanctuary in Mexico and the UK were recently dispatched to care for 700 donkeys awaiting slaughter for their skins. On their visit, they were moved by Ana and Cavalheiro, two donkeys fighting for their lives.

Emergency teams from The Donkey Sanctuary were dispatched after a disturbing call for help. In a remote corner of Brazil, 700 donkeys had been corralled into a pen together with no food and only a stagnant water source to drink from.

Following disturbing reports of donkeys enduring the most terrible suffering after being rounded up and transported long distances to the holding base of slaughterhouses in Brazil, a team from The Donkey Sanctuary went to investigate. 

For the first time, The Donkey Sanctuary and its Brazilian partners, formed as the National Donkey Taskforce, have significant evidence that the international trade in donkey skins is now reaching South America.