abstract: 'Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work across the globe to improve

  the welfare of working equids. Despite decades of veterinary and other

  interventions, welfare issues persist with equids working in brick

  kilns. Engagement with all stakeholders is integral to creating abiding

  improvements to working equid welfare as interventions based purely on

  reactive measures fail to provide sustainable solutions. Equid owners,

  particularly those in low to middle-income countries (LMICs), may have

  issues such as opportunity, capacity, gender or socio-economic status,

  overriding their ability to care well for their own equids. These

  ``blind spots{''''} are frequently overlooked when organizations develop

  intervention programs to improve welfare. This study aims to highlight

  the lives of the poorest members of Indian society, and will focus on

  working donkeys specifically as they were the only species of working

  equids present in the kilns visited. We discuss culture, status,

  religion, and social influences, including insights into the

  complexities of cultural ``blind spots{''''} which complicate efforts by

  NGOs to improve working donkey welfare when the influence of different

  cultural and societal pressures are not recognized or acknowledged.

  Employing a mixed-methods approach, we used the Equid Assessment

  Research and Scoping (EARS) tool, a questionnaire based equid welfare

  assessment tool, to assess the welfare of working donkeys in brick kilns

  in Northern India. In addition, using livelihoods surveys and

  semi-structured interviews, we established owner demographics,

  socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion and their personal accounts of

  their working lives and relationships to their donkeys. During

  transcript analysis six themes emerged: caste, ethnicity, inherited

  knowledge; social status, and impacts of ethnic group and caste; social

  status and gender; migration and shared suffering; shared suffering,

  compassion; religious belief, species hierarchy. The lives led by these,

  marginalized communities of low status are driven by poverty, exposing

  them to exploitation, lack of community cohesion, and community

  conflicts through migratory, transient employment. This vulnerability

  influences the care and welfare of their working donkeys, laying bare

  the inextricable link between human and animal welfare. Cultural and

  social perspectives, though sometimes overlooked, are crucial to

  programs to improve welfare, where community engagement and

  participation are integral to their success.'
affiliation: 'Watson, TL (Corresponding Author), Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, Devon,
  England.

  Watson, Tamlin L.; Kubasiewicz, Laura M.; Chamberlain, Natasha; Nye, Caroline; Raw,
  Zoe; Burden, Faith A., Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, Devon, England.

  Nye, Caroline, Univ Exeter, Ctr Rural Policy Res, Exeter, Devon, England.'
article-number: '214'
author: Watson, Tamlin L. and Kubasiewicz, Laura M. and Chamberlain, Natasha and Nye,
  Caroline and Raw, Zoe and Burden, Faith A.
author-email: tamlin.watson@thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk
author_list:
- family: Watson
  given: Tamlin L.
- family: Kubasiewicz
  given: Laura M.
- family: Chamberlain
  given: Natasha
- family: Nye
  given: Caroline
- family: Raw
  given: Zoe
- family: Burden
  given: Faith A.
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.00214
eissn: 2297-1769
files: []
journal: FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
keywords: working equids; brick kilns; welfare; blindspots; donkeys; culture
keywords-plus: GENDER INEQUALITY; SYSTEM
language: English
month: APR 29
number-of-cited-references: '64'
orcid-numbers: 'watson, tamlin/0000-0002-2751-5149

  Burden, Faith/0000-0002-1223-3923'
papis_id: b944bc1667509b50d12bfb63cf0732df
ref: Watson2020culturalblind
researcherid-numbers: 'watson, tamlin/ITV-5544-2023

  '
times-cited: '15'
title: Cultural ``Blind Spots,″ Social Influence and the Welfare of Working Donkeys
  in Brick Kilns in Northern India
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000556581200001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '2'
volume: '7'
web-of-science-categories: Veterinary Sciences
year: '2020'