title: Welfare Conditions of Donkeys in Europe: Initial Outcomes from On-Farm Assessment.
abstract: This paper is a baseline study to present the initial outcomes of data collected in a sample of EU donkey farms using the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for donkeys, comprehensive of 22 valid, reliable and feasible animal-based indicators. A total of 20 donkey facilities (N = 12 in Italy and N = 8 in United Kingdom) were visited and 278 donkeys of different breed, aged 2-45 years, were assessed. Three assessors underwent a common training period to learn how to perform and score all the indicators included in the protocol. Data was collected using digitalized systems and downloaded to a database. A descriptive statistic for each welfare indicator was calculated. The authors found recurrent issues: 25% of donkeys were moderately over weight; although most of the assessed animals had good quality hoof care, 15.16% of them presented some signs of neglect, such as overgrowth and/or incorrect trimming; 18.05% of donkeys showed an avoidance reaction to an approaching human in the avoidance distance test. The protocol has proven to be applicable in different management conditions and for donkeys of different attitude.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy. francesca.dai@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy. emanuela.dallacosta@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dalla Costa
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy. leigh_murray75@hotmail.co.uk.
authors.forename: Leigh Margareth Anne
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy. elisabetta.canali@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Canali
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy. michela.minero@unimi.it.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Minero
keywords: AWIN; animal welfare; animal-based indicators; donkey; equine