The utilities of donkey: techniques and prospects

In the early 90's, there were reports that donkeys are about to extinct as species. In Italy, there w ere counted few heads of many breeds and some of them had already been extinct. With the donkey in extinction, there was a risk of disappearance of a part of ecosystem that we are part of, a biodiversity particularly significant as it represents human history. Ali countries around the Mediterranean sea, countries of southem Europe from Spain to Greece and of north Africa from Turkey to Morocco, ha ve seen the production and the progress of agricultural world related to the presence of equines. Today, in many parts of ltaly, donkey is rediscovered for the potentiality that can stili has. The presence of donkey becomes once again useful inside farms, first of ali, because of its milk production, milk that is similar to that of humans and, also, for the use of this milk in the industry of cosmetics. Moreover, the use of meat produced by these animals is appreciated by today's consumers in the quest for authentic ftavors and traditional recipes and, last but not least, the donkey's use for pettherapy and for trekking with donkeys. This work is just a descriptive picture of the ltalian breeding reality with many possible suggestions for those countries where the donkey is stili a solitary inhabitant of the countryside.