Catalan donkey

The Catalan donkey is a breed of donkey (Equus africanus asinus) native to the Spanish province of Gerona. Currently, it is in danger of extinction, reduced to only five hundred specimens, of which four hundred are found in Catalonia. The south of France welcomes the other specimens.

This robust breed, with black hair and a large head, is characterized by its great resistance. Its disappearance from Catalan rural areas is due to the introduction of modern heavy machinery that makes it unnecessary for agriculture and transportation as it once was.

The Catalan donkey as an emblem

After several years without receiving any attention, the Catalan donkey unexpectedly achieved great popularity in 2004, when two young people from Banyoles, Jaume Sala and Àlex Ferreiro, decided to create a car sticker with the silhouette of this animal, with the objective, half seriously, half joking, to draw attention to the danger of this breed disappearing and thus facilitate its conservation. The logo became popular in Catalonia in the following months, appearing on all kinds of stickers, t-shirts and other objects.

During the months in which the Catalan donkey was on the front page of the press, some copies sold for over six thousand euros.^{[citation required]}

Subsequently, it unexpectedly became an emblem of the Catalans, since it has been considered that it should be protected and in this way Catalonia is related to ecology. Currently, the emblem of the ruc català ('Catalan donkey') is used by some people as a symbol of Catalan nationalism, in opposition to Osborne's bull. Political parties in favor of environmentalism, such as Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV), sympathize with the symbol only because it makes known the danger of extinction of this breed.

The Mallorcan and Pantesca races

The Mallorcan donkey and the Pantelerian donkey (Italy) are strongly related to the Catalan breed. The first is, surely, the rarest of the native breeds; slightly smaller than the Catalan (145-155 cm tall), similar in terms of morphology and character. The second became extinct around the 70s; Currently, the regional government of Sicily, on which the small island of Pantelleria depends, is trying to recover the breed from crossbreeds that remain.