Asinara donkey

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The Asinara, Italian: Asino dell'Asinara (Italian pronunciation: [ˈaːzino dellaziˈnaːra]), is a breed of feral donkey indigenous to the island of Asinara, which lies off the north-west coast of Sardinia, Italy, in the province of Sassari. Most of the population is wholly or partly albinistic; the small number of grey donkeys on the island are also considered part of the population, and may be heterozygous carriers of the albino gene. The Asinara is one of the eight autochthonous donkey breeds of limited distribution recognised by the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture and forestry. It is called ainu, borricu or molenti in Sardinian. There are approximately 120 individuals on the island. Others are in the natural reserve of Porto Conte in the comune of Alghero and at the Istituto di Incremento Ippico at Foresta Burgos, and a few are raised in Tuscany and in Emilia Romagna. The Asinara derives from the population of Sardinian donkeys abandoned on the island by the inhabitants when they were forcibly evacuated from it following the passing of the law of 28 June 1885, under which Asinara was to be transformed into a lazaret and penal colony. White-coated animals had already been seen on the island before this event. It is also possible that the breed descends from white donkeys imported from Egypt in the nineteenth century by the Duca dell'Asinara. Like all Italian breeds of donkey, the Asinara is endangered.