The largest, hairiest - and most endangered - breed of donkey in the world is the Poitou (pronounced pwa-too). They may look a bit prehistoric, thanks to their long history.
The Poitou is a French breed, which was developed in the backyards of its native southern France, the Poitou region, for hundreds of years. Some historians believe, judging from ancient drawings, that the Poitou existed when the Romans occupied France in 54 BC. Poitous appear in historic writings from the 11th century on.
Despite their size and strength, the Poitou donkey was not used as a draft animal for heavy work, but rather as a breeding equine, to produce the highly sought-after Poitou mule. In the Middle Ages, owning a mule was a sign of prestige, and only the clergy and nobility could afford them. Poitou mules were the product of a Poitou donkey and a Mulassier horse mare.
As the sale of these mules was big business to their breeders, they took great care to make sure that Poitou donkeys were not sold out of the region, or ever crossed with any other type of donkey. As a result, the Poitou breed remained pure for hundreds of years.
After the second World War, when motorized vehicles took over most of the agricultural and military jobs, the demand for the Poitou mules dropped - and so did the popularity of the Poitou donkeys. France, ravished by two World Wars, saw scores of Poitou donkeys sent to.the slaughterhouse to provide much-needed meat for human consumption.
In the 1970s, a few concerned French citizens took a survey and found that there were only 60 purebred Poitou donkeys left. Faced with the extinction of their beloved native breed, a number of breeders banded together to preserve the Poitou.
Today, there are still no more than 200 registered Poitou donkeys in the world. Most remain in France, while a few are scattered around Europe, mostly in zoos. There are about 20 registered Poitous in the United States, and one in Canada.
Horsepower August/September 1999