Have your ‘bray’ for donkeys

People are being invited to take part in an exciting new research project that will help the international animal welfare charity, The Donkey Sanctuary, understand more about public perceptions of donkeys.

Through fun activities and discussions examining the language of popular media, the project aims to learn more about how donkeys are represented by the British public. By taking part, people will be making a valuable contribution to the welfare and knowledge surrounding donkeys and the issues that affect them.

The Donkey Sanctuary is the largest equine welfare charity in the world and has nearly 7,000 donkeys and mules in its care. Research projects such as this are important to its work and help to ensure it is able to reach even more donkeys and mules in need.

Dr Cara Clancy, Senior Researcher at The Donkey Sanctuary, who is leading the research project said: “This is a great opportunity to learn more about people’s views of donkeys and how everyday language can affect their welfare. We look forward to hearing from anyone in the UK who wants to take part in our online focus groups.”

The project, open to anyone over 18 years old, will give people an opportunity to join one of the focus groups that will gather data on specific topics through online discussions and open-ended questions.

The information gathered will help The Donkey Sanctuary understand more about the social status of donkeys in the UK. Contributions will be entirely anonymised and may be used for future conference papers and publications.

To find out more and to take part in the ‘Donkey Discourse: Investigating public perceptions of donkeys in UK/British culture’ research project, please click here

The Donkey Sanctuary is a global leader for equine welfare, research and veterinary care. The charity operates programmes worldwide for animals working in agriculture, industry and transportation.