As wildfires rage across North America and southern Europe, an unlikely firefighter is helping to contain the ravaging flames in Spain’s Catalan countryside: a herd of donkeys to the rescue.
Tivissa Donkeys Firefighters, a Catalan charity, has taken fire control by rescuing abandoned and neglected donkeys, providing veterinary care, and providing space for the animals to graze and roam freely as part of the herd.
The organization’s “donkey unit” also helps in sustainable forest management by eating flammable vegetation, which helps prevent fires and resources in firefighting efforts.
Spain has had about 114,796 hectares of forest fires from the beginning of 2026 to July 24, according to data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), but animals have shown that they are an effective tool to create natural fire fighters by eating dry plants that fuel fast fires.
Canada is also facing one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, with nearly 800 fires burning according to the federal government’s July update and about 3.45 million hectares burned. It also planted carnivores as a fire prevention method in the past.
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The use of grazing animals has proven successful in some parts of Europe, according to the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, and is being reinforced by widely used technological strategies, including satellite monitoring and drones to track the spread, as well as aerial firefighting tools and systems to predict the path of active fires.
Despite being a little-used domestic tactic, grazing animals have long been used as a traditional fire prevention tool, especially in the Mediterranean, where dense dry brush and vegetation – natural fuels for fire – abound.
“Forests provide food and thank them for protecting the area from potential fires,” says the Tivissa Donkeys Firefighters website.
The founder of this non-profit organization, Joan Cedó Sans, started rescuing donkeys in 2020 and now has a herd of more than 60, half of which are members of the fire department. Members are named and listed on the organization’s website.
Among them are Roberto, a former racing donkey, who is described as a “calm and peaceful person,” and Nelson, who shows “a great protective but also strong character,” and Eleanor, who is “adaptable” and “suddenly going to be a great firefighter.”
“Thank you for the animals that we feel deserve a second chance,” Cedó told CNN in an interview.
Cedó first used donkeys to help clear land he owned that was burned by fires in 2013, telling a US news outlet that they “ate everything,” leading to full donkey-led operations in the region.
This arrangement is mutually beneficial, Cedó added, explaining that it provides the donkeys with a dignified life and a sustainable solution to wildfire prevention.
Research shows that although fire risk cannot be eliminated, grasslands can reduce the spread of fires and make it easier to control and extinguish them.
“Managing the structure and composition of uplands, lowland vegetation, and grasslands can reduce fuel and potential fire hazards,” according to an article published in the Scientific Reports Journal.
This system should be used in conjunction with other techniques, such as mechanical thinning and pruning of biomass and controlled burning of land by specialized workers, forestry engineer and professor Jose Vicente Oliver told Reuters.
Scientists have linked worsening wildfire seasons across southern Europe to climate change. Spain, the third most forested country in Europe, has registered an average temperature of 5.6 C above 1990 levels in July so far, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor.
– via files from Reuters
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