1. Introduction
Donkeys are a cornerstone in human existence and have played an important role throughout much history in different economic activities. The world donkey population is estimated to be about 43 million, with approximately 95% of them used for work in developing countries carrying out domestic activities, as well as tasks relating to agriculture, transport, and different industries (e.g., construction) [
1,
2,
3]. It is not uncommon to find working donkeys suffering from many welfare-related problems, including wounds, poor body condition, respiratory diseases, parasites, a poor dental condition, and lameness [
3,
4,
5,
6]. Welfare problems do not stop with physical ailments; many working donkeys experience compromised mental states, such as a fear of humans and even depression [
4]. Poor welfare is commonly associated with working donkeys in Africa and the Middle East. Their poor welfare has been linked to both harsh working conditions [
3,
5] and to handlers with insufficient knowledge of general husbandry and properly caring for working donkeys, such as wound management, harness care and fitting, watering, nutritional requirements, appropriate shelter arrangements, and veterinary services [
6,
7,
8,
9].
Approximately 3.7% of the world donkey population is found in Egypt, with close to 1.6 million animals [
10]. Donkeys have a long history in Egypt, having been first domesticated there around 3000–4000BC [
11]. Recently, the increasing human population has caused an increase in construction activities, including the building of new cities, and this has increased the demand for bricks. Consequently, there has been an increase in the demand for working donkeys in Egypt. Despite the increase of mechanization in brick kilns, donkeys are still well deserving of the name the “beasts of burden”, and are heavily relied upon for production. In the El-Saf brick kilns, where the Egyptian Society for the Protection and Welfare of Working Animals (ESPWWA) is located, the donkey is the preferred working equid. Donkeys are responsible for transporting green dried bricks from the loading area to the ovens inside by pulling overloaded carts, which are driven by children. Donkeys working in these brick kilns face multiple challenges. They often receive little nutrition and veterinary care, and they are often over-worked, overloaded, and wear ill-fitted, poorly designed harnesses [
4]. These deficiencies in care lead to many welfare problems, including harness-induced injuries, dehydration, wounds from beating, lameness, and other health problems [
12]. There is no training for donkeys in performing such hard work. The average load of bricks weighs 6 to 12 times the body weight of a donkey found working in the kilns. Apart from pulling heavy loads, the donkeys work in a very harsh environment for long hours, pulling loads on difficult and uneven terrain and being exposed to extreme temperatures from the heat radiating from the ovens. Furthermore, the handlers are young children or adolescents, who have little knowledge of how to properly work, care for, and communicate with donkeys. Thus, the donkeys are subjected to many conditions that compromise their welfare. Despite their invaluable contribution to brick kilns and to sustaining over 250 workers/brick kiln, donkeys are the most neglected part of the industry, with brick kiln owners considering donkeys as machines with a low economic value. The welfare of working donkeys is very important not only for the health and survival of those animals, but also for the livelihood of the people who depend on them [
9]. A welfare assessment of working equids is crucial for establishing welfare regulations, enacting legislation, and implementing welfare strategies aimed at improving the quality of life of owners and equids within communities [
13]. The use of a combination of physical, behavioral, and mental parameters has been commonly used in the welfare assessment of working equids [
5,
14,
15,
16,
17]. The ESPWWA faces many challenges in assessing the welfare of donkeys in brick kilns, including the fact that the work in brick kilns is temporary, and there is a dynamic movement of handlers from kilns. This variation of the welfare of donkeys in brick kilns may help us to understand the risk factors, including management practices that can lead to the compromise or improvement of donkey welfare. Studies focused on identifying the conditions that have a severe and negative impact on welfare, along with research that focuses on how to successfully implement changes that improve donkey welfare, are important. However, the current research in both of these areas is limited [
18]. The aim of this study is to assess the welfare of working donkeys in the El-Saf brick kilns and identify the associated risk factors that may compromise the welfare of working donkeys in many Egyptian brick kilns.
4. Discussion
Based on an ESPWWA estimation, there are more than 1000 brick kilns in Egypt, most of which are in the Giza and Qalyubia governorates. These brick kilns are not similar; they are different in terms of the mechanization, types of working equids, responsibilities of the stakeholders, and ownership of the donkeys. In the El-Saf kilns, the ownership of the donkeys belongs to the brick kiln owners, and the donkey drivers are children or adolescents, who are usually illiterate and do not have enough knowledge to properly communicate with the working equids. They live in villages near the brick kilns, and most of them are relatives of the owners or foreman. Working in these brick kilns is a temporary job for them. There is a dynamic movement of the handlers from kilns to other locations, and all stakeholders in the brick kilns are under pressure to work in order to meet the daily brick production target, even in harsh working conditions and bad weather.
Wounds or lesions have been considered to be one of the most prevalent and severe welfare problems facing working donkeys [
3,
4,
5,
23,
24]. Wounds and lesions may have many origins, but little research has focused on the cause of wounds and their relationship to specific welfare parameters. This is true for donkeys working in brick kilns in various locations in Egypt. Some of the expected causes of wounds are improperly fitted and designed harnesses (saddles, collars), poor materials used to make the harness (natural and synthetic), poor communication between handlers (beating wounds) and their donkeys, aggressive behavior from other donkeys (e.g., bites and kicks), and improper husbandry/management practices [
4,
5].
This study revealed that the overall wound prevalence in working donkeys in brick kilns was high (80%), and it is by far the highest prevalence recorded, compared with other studies. For example, 77.5% was reported by Curran et al. [
8], 79.4% was reported by Biffa and Woldemeskel [
23], 48.9% was reported by Moltumo et al. [
24], 42.2% was reported by Birhan et al. [
25], 54.9% was reported by Fikru et al. [
26], 59% was reported by Burn et al. [
27] in Jordan, and 54% was reported by Sells et al. [
28] in Morocco. This difference in the prevalence is attributed to the difference in environmental conditions, type of work, and the harness system for the donkeys in brick kilns. Brick kiln donkeys have the highest prevalence of the most severe lesions [
5], which lead to severe pain and chronic suffering [
29].
They often receive inadequate nutrition and veterinary care; they are overworked and overloaded; and they wear poorly fitted, insufficiently padded harnesses and are hitched to poorly designed harness [
4], which may lead to many welfare problems, including harness-induced injuries, dehydration, and beating wounds [
25]. In the El-Saf brick kilns, there is no training for donkeys to do such hard work, where sometimes they pull brick loads weighing 6 to 12 times their body weight. The work is often prolonged and strenuous under high environmental temperatures, with heat radiating from the kilns themselves. The terrain is harsh, there is limited access to clean fresh water, and the donkeys receive relatively little husbandry or veterinary care. There is a large proportion of working donkeys that are suffering from injuries due to poor handling by their handlers [
29,
30].
This study revealed that 49% of donkeys have wounds from excessive force or from being beaten, which is considered to be the most serious wound for donkeys. Pritchard et al. [
3] reported the prevalence of hindquarter wounds from mistreatment to be 12.1% in donkeys. Another study [
25] reported the prevalence of lesions from mistreatment to be 25.2% in donkeys and 41.7% in mules. The difference reported by other researchers and what was found in this study is likely due to the overall health of the working equids, the species (donkey or mule), the type of work, and environmental conditions. Considering that most drivers in El-Saf kilns are children or adolescents with little knowledge or skills relating to how to communicate and care for donkeys, coupled with their poor attitude toward donkeys, it is no surprise that the donkeys are mistreated. The drivers have little to no motivation to enhance the welfare of these equids, and so we find donkeys to be the most neglected animal. Brick kiln owners consider donkeys as machines with a low economic value, and the stakeholders of brick kilns work under severe pressure to meet daily production targets. From personal observations, it was frequently observed that the foreman in the El-Saf kilns imposed additional pressure on the young handlers, which resulted in the children beating their donkeys to achieve production goals.
A decrease in injuries may have been recorded if properly designed, well-fitted, and comfortable harnesses had been used in the brick kilns, or if the drivers had access to training relating to how to construct such harnesses. We know from other studies that properly fitted harnesses allow working animals to pull the equipment to the best of their ability, without risk of injuries. Unfortunately, we found many harnesses that were poorly designed or ill-fitted, which relates to the inefficient transfer of power from the animal to the implement, fatigue, discomfort, and/or injury to the animal [
29]. While harness wounds can be avoided and represent 70% of veterinary intervention for working equids in developing countries, similar conditions were observed in this study. We could improve the performance of working equids by improving the overall harness quality and fit, as well as the material used to make the harnesses. With such improvements, we would likely see a decrease in wounds in the El-Saf brick kilns, as reported in other studies [
31].
There are no available data on the harnesses of working donkeys in Egyptian brick kilns. This study revealed the prevalence of wounds caused by harness in working donkeys in brick kilns was correlated with certain parts of the harness such as the pack saddle, neck collar, and breeching or the wound was caused by the shafts of the cart. It is difficult to compare the prevalence of harness wounds found in this study with that found in other studies due to the fact that the harness system used in Egyptian brick kilns is different from that used in other studied areas, such as Ethiopia and Morocco [
32]. Donkeys working in the El-Saf brick kilns are found pulling overloaded carts/wagons with harnesses in poor condition and ill-fitting and the cart is poorly attached to the donkey (
Figure 5).
The study showed that the frequency of the wounds found on the limbs were related to the harness quality (e.g., poor) and donkeys being overworked and overloaded. This study and a study by Pearson et al. [
29] showed that the level of severity and location of the wounds was associated with parts of the harness, BCS, and/or mistreatment.
This study revealed a correlation between cleanliness and wounds in the following locations and parts of the harness: the neck collar, pack saddle, and breeching. In 2009, Sells et al. [
28] found that the cleanliness of the pack saddles is a significant factor in developing a pack wound. The presence of dirt may contribute to the early stages of wound formation by increasing the abrasiveness of the material. A poorly designed or ill-fitted harness will result in fatigue, discomfort, or lesions on donkeys [
33].
We found that there is an association between beating wounds and saddle and breeching wounds (
p-value < 0.01). In addition, the association between beating wounds and the cleanliness, condition, and fit of different parts of the harness was explored, and it was found that it is associated with the cleanliness of the saddle and breeching and associated with the fitness of the neck collar as well. Moreover, because the poorly designed or ill-fitted and unclean harness leads to an inefficient transfer of power from the donkey to the cart [
33], painful lesions, which reduce the work capacity of working donkeys [
34], it will result in an increase in the frequency of being beaten by their handlers to meet the daily production target.
Regarding the BCS of working donkeys in brick kilns, it is found that BCS is an important animal-based indicator in assessing the health status and welfare of working equids [
35,
36], without determining whether the nutrient requirements are met or exceeded [
37]. A healthy equid should be fit, neither not too fat nor too thin [
38]. A poor body condition is a major welfare concern for working equids [
5,
39]. Thin donkeys have less natural padding (adipose tissue and muscle), which protects them from friction, pressure, and lesions caused by harnessing. The present study revealed that 56% of kiln donkeys have a BCS of 2 or less. This score is higher than what other studies have reported for donkeys in similar scenarios [
24,
25]. This difference may be attributed to a difference in the working and environmental conditions, management practice, working load, and type of work. In general, poor body condition scores of working equids may be attributed to malnutrition [
40] and/or parasitic infestation, coupled with a heavy working load [
41]. Working equids used for strenuous work in hotter weather and or hot and humid weather are likely to suffer from dehydration and a poor body condition [
42].
A poor body condition is generally coupled with many underlying factors, such as exhaustion from being overworked [
30] and chronic pain [
43]. Donkeys in such conditions may suffer from negative mental states (e.g., depression) [
44] and live a life that is generally characterized by poor welfare [
45,
46,
47].
The study found a difference between injured donkeys and healthy donkeys in terms of BCS. This finding suggests that a higher BCS and likely an overall improved care may decrease the number and severity of wounds. Pritchard et al. [
3] identified the highest correlation coefficient to be that between a low body condition score and wounds of the skin and deeper tissues (r = 0.37), because they may have less natural padding protecting them from pressure, friction and shear lesions caused by the harness. The same results were reported by Abdela et al. [
40], who found that there was a significant association between body condition and occurrences of wounds (
p-value = 0.000), and animals with a poor body condition are more likely to be wounded than animals found to be in a good body condition. This finding agrees with the report of Birhan et al. [
25] and Tsega et al. [
41], who reported a significant difference between a poor and good BCS.
Behavior can be modified by several variables, including the following: workload, working conditions, and housing environment, as reported in this study. There is a need to understand the behavior of working donkeys and how it is associated with different management and production demands in order to improve the conditions and welfare of donkeys. Behavioral tests, such as those used in this study, can begin to identify compromised behavior that is linked to poor welfare, from a low BCS to excessive injuries or animals that have become apathetic due to being overworked.
In the present study, the majority of the donkeys displayed behavioral signs associated with being apathetic or depressed, and some even showed signs of aggression. The results in our study, compared to other studies, such as that of Ali et al. [
18], suggest the findings that apathetic, depression and aggressive behaviors are more prevalent. Pritchard et al. [
35] suggested that behavior could be related to or attributed to the severity of work, environmental and working conditions, type of work, and prevalence of harness-induced wounds in donkeys. The results in this study showed that donkeys had multiple challenges to overcome in order to live a healthy life. Factors that influenced their welfare and were documented included poor nutrition, water sources, harnesses, mental states, and overall BCS, which led to a compromised welfare. Such parameters have been shown to have similar results in other working equid studies [
4]. Brick kiln donkeys have the highest prevalence of the most severe lesions [
42]. In the El-Saf brick kilns, as mentioned before, the prevalence of wounds was the highest, compared with previous reports, and the prevalence of beating wounds in the present study was higher than the prevalence of mistreatment lesions reported by Ali et al. [
18]. Burn et al. [
4] reported that working equids that suffer from severe physical injuries showed depression and unresponsive behavior. Unresponsiveness behavior is considered to be an indicator of several poor welfare problems, for example, fatigue due to a heavy workload [
30,
48] and chronic pain [
30] in the El-Saf brick kiln. The donkeys and their handlers are generally found to work for more than 8 h without rest in extreme conditions that are hot and to be under a high production pressure. Donkeys are generally overloaded and pull carts averaging 2.25 tons, in addition to the weight of the handlers, while suffering from pain and open lesions. In many cases, we found donkeys displaying aggressive reactions toward observers due to the working conditions and the fact the donkeys were regularly beaten by their handlers. This resulted in continuously compromised human–donkey interactions, and the donkeys continued to develop behaviors, such as fearfulness and aggression toward humans, which is generally not commonly observed in donkeys [
42]. Rousing et al. [
43] reported that depressed and unresponsive donkeys experienced improper handling. Positive human–animal interactions are very important when it comes to working equids, as it facilitates daily activities, encourages positive human attitudes, and improves animal welfare [
44]. Burn et al. [
4] reported that a low BCS is correlated most strongly with unresponsive behavior. The causes of a low BCS are multifactorial and likely include malnutrition, overwork, parasitism, and disease, which can simultaneously cause behavioral sickness that leads to anorexia and the development of a poor BCS [
38,
44,
45]. Both fatigue from overworking, being overloaded [
16] coupled with chronic pain [
30], and depression or learned helplessness [
36] can lead to a compromised welfare [
37,
38,
39]. In the present study, we found that donkeys with a higher BCS show more alert behaviors and are friendlier with humans.