(Translated from Dutch to English using Google Translate)

The donkey remains an undervalued animal compared to other hobby animals or companion animals. Where the great minds in history chose a donkey as a beast of burden or riding (think of Christ, Mary, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, …) because of the modesty of a donkey, the unjustified symbolism of stupidity is more firmly established. The result is that donkeys are often not taken seriously, receive less attention and care and are less stable than, for example, horses. Even in animal-oriented training, the donkey is treated only marginally compared to horses. Because the donkey is often still seen as an inferior animal, there is a lot of abuse and neglect, often due to a lack of knowledge.

Stichting de Ezelshoeve wants to make a difference and see clear results when it comes to sustainable improvement of donkey welfare. We succeed in this by combining practical care of animals with prevention and education. We influence policy and information and are happy to work with (inter)national partners.

The vision of Stichting de Ezelshoeve is to improve the general image people have of donkeys, to increase knowledge about (keeping) donkeys, to combat donkey neglect, to take care of donkeys that need it and guiding people who (want to) keep donkeys. We do this partly by promoting donkeys and their qualities to a wide audience, giving people the opportunity to work with donkeys and showing good examples.

To do this, the policy and operation of the foundation is based on three pillars: animal welfare, education and social.