The Donkey Welfare Symposium!!!!

Name: The Donkey Welfare Symposium!!!!
Start: 2025-10-04T08:00:00-07:00
End: 2025-10-05T16:00:00-07:00
Location: UC Davis, Schalm Hall, School of Veterinary Medicine

Schedule

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025 at 08:00 am to Sun, 05 Oct, 2025 at 04:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

UC Davis, Schalm Hall, School of Veterinary Medicine | Davis, CA

Larry Donkey: Meet Him at the DWS Oct 4 and 5, at UCD!
One can talk about experts, organizers, and founders. The Donkey Welfare Symposium has had those, all of the best quality. Over the years we have had speakers from every continent except Antarctica, covering everything from the ancient history of donkey domestication to most pressing challenges facing the species today. However, when it comes to actually learning about donkeys you cannot have a better teacher than and actual donkey.
From the first Donkey Welfare Symposium, back in 2012, donkeys have been active participants and their contributions the most important part of the meeting. The very first year Mark Myers of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue brought a trailer load of donkeys to Davis for an adoption event that was to occur at on the last day. Among these donkeys was the pinto donkey that you all know and love, my very own “Larry”!
Since then, Larry, who was an owner surrender to PVDR in Louisiana, has been to every single Donkey Welfare Symposium, except for the one held at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY (he isn’t into Ivy League), and the virtual ones during Covid (he finds the Zoom format boring).
At that first DWS, Larry was going to receive a dental from Dr. João Rodriquez, of The Donkey Sanctuary. This was back when we had the meeting at the old HH Cole Facility, by the Animal Science Horse Barn, on the UCD campus. Larry was standing in a set of horse sized stocks, about 4 feet high, and Dr. Rodriguez was explaining the intricacies of donkey dentistry, at a chalk board near the chute. The crowd of veterinarians and donkey enthusiasts were in rapt attention to the lecture, but Larry wasn’t so much. Being the only donkey in the room and without anything interesting to do (such as eat), he decided that he would rather be somewhere else. So, while João’s back was turned, Larry calmly sat back on his hind legs, and jumped out of the chute from a standstill, heading for the door, his donkey friends, and some nice grass hay that they were sharing. The performance was quite a hit with the audience, less so with Dr. Rogriguez, who suggested that we find another donkey for his demonstration.
At the end of this symposium, Cindy and I felt that we needed to add donkeys to our lives, so we adopted Larry and a cute little jennet (“Jenny”, more about her later). We took them home to our ranch where Archie and Monty, our Thoroughbred horses, were absolutely terrified by their new, longer eared “roomies”. In fact, they did nothing but snort at and run from these obviously dangerous animals for a full two months.
Larry and Jenny were pretty non-plussed by the whole thing, which gave us valuable lesion in horse vs. donkey behavior. I’ve loved horses all my life, but we now are up to 14 donkeys and just 4 horses. Larry greets me every morning, does his “back away from the gate” trick, gets his carrot, and maintains my sanity. My horse has only put me in the hospital once….
Larry is pictured here practicing, by himself, for a demonstration on a donkey obstacle course that we featured one year. You have to admit that he is a handsome guy. Come to The Donkey Welfare Symposium, meet Larry (if you haven’t already), and give him an ear rub or a carrot slice (he takes them very gently). He’ll teach you as he has taught me, and improve your view of the world, as he has done mine.