Today is the World Donkey Day. Yes, the donkeys have their own day too!

The life of this intelligent but docile creature is often overlooked. Their lives are taken for granted as a burden of beast.

The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
On all four-footed things.

_{- Excerpt from the poem The Donkey by G. K. CHESTERTON}

For centuries, donkeys are being used as a beast of burden, often overloaded with more load than they could carry. This often results in severe injury and pain in their back bone. Their legs too get injured due to tight ropes tied to them. I've seen several cases of overworked donkeys and when they can't do any more work due to injuries or consistent wear and tear of their bodies , they are just abandoned and forgotten by their owners.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photograph of a donkey except this one which I had taken in a local animal rescue shelter:

You can notice in this picture how hungry these animals are for human's love and affection.

But they are mostly beaten mercilessly by their owners.

Ever been to Vaishno Devi or Kedarnath?

If you have ever been to hilly places in HImalayas like Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu & Kashmir or Shree Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand, you must have encountered hundreds of ponies and mules (called खच्चर) who carry pilgrims on their back on the long trekking route.

Did you ever rode a mule or a pony?

I wonder what kind of holy pilgrimage these people keep going to, by inflicting so much of suffering to these poor animals. Even young and healthy people who are capable of walking or trekking choose to ride mules just for fun and laziness. In my opinion, they are just incurring sin by their karma of such a pilgrimage!

Should humans cross-breed animals?

Humans crossbred animals for their own selfish reasons but animals suffer all through their lives for it.

In these times when we have all alternative methods to achieve what we want, why do we keep troubling poor animals!

In my city, esp. in the old city region where streets are very narrow for any big vehicle to enter, donkeys are still used to carry construction material. Once I objected to my city's mayor for carrying construction material for Municipal work on donkeys. He gave me a poor excuse that this is how we are doing it for years and we don't have any other alternative for it. I suggested several alternatives for it but until there is a will to bring around a change, nothing is going to happen.

Can we all spare some thoughts on World Donkey Day for these inncocent creatures and what can we do for them?