The General Secretary of the Egyptian Farmers' Union, Hussein Abdel Rahman Abu Saddah, stated that donkeys, despite their traditional role as a means of transport and assistance in agriculture, possess significant therapeutic and psychological benefits.
Abu Saddah explained in comments to the website "Cairo 24" that Spanish researchers have confirmed that interacting with donkeys is an effective way to relieve stress. He noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, doctors and nurses in Spain went to a forest in southwestern Spain to spend time with donkeys, an initiative supported by an organization called "The Happy Donkey" to promote the mental health of frontline workers.
The head of the Farmers' Union pointed out that the donkey is a peaceful animal distinguished by its intelligence, patience, loyalty, and endurance, and has been historically linked to the Egyptian farmer, even becoming material for folk proverbs.
He added that the donkey belongs to the horse family, is characterized by its thick skin and long ears, and is used for pulling carts, operating agricultural machinery, and transportation in rural areas.
Abu Saddam confirmed that the number of donkeys in the world is about 44 million and is constantly decreasing, compared to the increasing number of humans, which has exceeded 8 billion people.
This decline is due to farmers replacing donkeys with modern machines and equipment, which has led to poor people in some developing countries slaughtering donkeys to sell their skins to countries that use them to extract very expensive medicines, threatening this animal with gradual extinction.
The head of the Farmers' Union called for re-evaluating the social, cultural, and therapeutic value of the donkey and taking steps to protect it from unsustainable exploitation, stressing that the donkey is not just a means of transport, but a part of agricultural and human heritage, and plays a significant role in supporting mental health and sustainable rural development.
