Reid Student Bursary: 2024 winner spotlight

Congratulations on being awarded the 2024 Reid Student Bursary for Donkey Welfare. How did you feel when you found out you had been selected?

When I found out that I had been awarded with the bursary, I was immensely happy and grateful. Working on this project has certainly been a challenge, but it also gave me the opportunity to access a world that I knew very little about, and which, at the same time, I cared deeply for.

I have always been fascinated by equids. In recent years, I have become increasingly interested in the concept of welfare, and I realised that equids are often in suboptimal conditions, due to misinformation and a limited willingness to change amongst their caretakers. Even equids in excellent health often have unmet needs; in many cases, the owners act in good faith.

Thanks to this bursary I have been able to take an active part in something important to improve the life and welfare of these animals. I believe that this project will be helpful not only for working equids but also for those kept as companions.

What inspired you to apply for the bursary and research donkey welfare in particular?

What inspired me the most to apply for the bursary was my desire to do something concrete for the welfare of equids. Last year, I met The Donkey Sanctuary’s trainer for Europe, Dr Francesca Dai, during a very interesting seminar entitled “Introduction to Equid Welfare”, which was held at my university.

While studying Veterinary Medicine, I saw my final dissertation project as an opportunity to explore the topic of equid welfare in greater depth, so meeting her was a sign of destiny. Thanks to her, I learned about The Donkey Sanctuary and the possibility of applying for the bursary.

Since February 2024, I have been an intern in the “Equine Medicine and Surgery” department of the veterinary hospital at my university. While treating various equine patients, I noticed that there is often a tendency to focus mainly on the physical welfare of the equid, neglecting the ethological and environmental aspects, which, in my opinion, are also very important for both the resolution and prevention of many diseases affecting these animals.

From this reflection, my interest in combining clinical practice with the study of the animal’s welfare and wellbeing has grown.

Please can you explain what your project was about and how it impacts donkeys and other working animals?

The aim of the project was to validate a standardised video collection system for remotely assessing equid welfare. Ultimately, the goal is to have a welfare assessment method that remains practical and effective, even in remote locations where it is not possible to travel or train local staff.

In order to validate this method, together with Dr Francesca Dai, I applied the Equid Assessment, Research and Scoping (EARS) welfare assessment protocol, developed by The Donkey Sanctuary, to evaluate donkeys and mules cared for at Il Rifugio degli Asinelli, Italy. We collected three videos for each assessed animal.

Following our fieldwork, the videos were shared with expert assessors from The Donkey Sanctuary, trained in the use of the EARS protocol.

The assessors carried out the welfare assessment of the donkeys portrayed in the videos using the same protocol. The results of the video assessments were then analysed to identify the correlation with the field assessments.

What was the most rewarding part of the research?

Taking part in this project has been very rewarding. In addition to increasing my skills and knowledge about equid welfare, I also had the opportunity to do something constructive and concrete by working in the field with several professionals.

The practical activities at Il Rifugio degli Asinelli were extremely stimulating, being able to see with my own eyes how a group made up of different professionals take care of the donkeys was very motivating.

I realised the importance of many practical aspects that are often taken for granted or underestimated, such as the need to be able to evaluate the right social group in which to place an individual equid.

Moreover, until now I had interacted mostly with horses rather than donkeys and it was very interesting to notice the behavioural differences between these animals. People often think that donkeys and horses are the same or at least very similar, but in reality, this is not the case. Although they belong to the same genus, they have extremely different behavioural characteristics.

How do you hope your project will contribute to improving donkey welfare globally?

I hope this project will enhance the welfare of equids worldwide by enabling assessment in remote or high-risk areas. In this way, it will be easier to help all the animals living in those parts of the world.

Hopefully The Donkey Sanctuary will be able to help more donkeys, especially in countries where they still have a central role in the life of local communities.

Finally, what advice would you give to other students who may be interested in getting involved in equine welfare?

My advice for other students who want to approach the topic of equid welfare is to never stop asking questions. One should never stop wondering whether what is being done is truly the best thing for the animal.

Continuing to ask questions is the key to changing the mentality of ‘it has always been done this way’. Observation makes the difference, so let’s observe how animals behave, how they interact with each other and with us, let’s observe their facial expressions and their body language. Only by observing, asking questions, and studying can we truly make a difference.

Humans have always used equids for work or for entertainment. I think it is quite utopian to believe that this could end in the near future, but I believe that it is possible - and necessary - to find a compromise between the needs of humans and the needs of equids. This would allow these animals to live in the best possible way, fully respecting their needs.

Lucrezia’s project is a shining example of how research is key to achieving our organisational goals.

Through reliable assessments of animal welfare, using a validated protocol, we can improve the quality of life of working equids by tracking and assessing the impact of any of our interventions. This is particularly important when considering the vast range of different scenarios and locations where projects may happen.

Applications for the 2025 Reid Student Bursary for Donkey Welfare are currently open.

We welcome research project proposals on any topic within the field of donkey health and welfare, with applications open to students currently registered on an undergraduate or master’s degree course at any university in the UK, Ireland, Spain or Italy.