"Not All Who Wander Are Lost": The Life Transitions and Associated Welfare of Pack Mules Walking the Trails in the Mountainous Gorkha Region, Nepal

Simple Summary There is now some understanding of the immediate welfare concerns of pack mules in Nepal but there is scant understanding about how they arrive in Nepal, and what challenges they face when they begin work. Using mixed methods, we investigate the owner's perspectives and using EARS welfare assessments develop a picture about how life is for the mules in Nepal. Mules endure the translocation of many hundreds of kilometres in overloaded vehicles to work in a transient industry where owners often have a lack of experience and understanding of their needs, and where the mules face multiple owners, have a high risk of mortality and, as such, undergo replacement with regularity. This study gives an indication of where potential interventions may have the greatest effect on improving pack mule welfare in Nepal, where improved transport checks and legislation, and support of owners to understand and appreciate their mules' needs could bring some much-needed relief to this struggling population. Equids in general experience transient lives where ownership may change multiple times, for working equids this can be more extreme where ownership changes are not only numerous but abrupt, and situations encountered prove difficult, diverse and tough for equids to adapt. In this study, we investigate the life cycle of pack mules in Nepal, investigating the challenges they face during their lives through to end of life. To gain insight into the lives of mules, we conducted semi-structured interviews and livelihood surveys with 27 key informants, gathering the perspectives of the people working with mules. Welfare assessments of the mules were undertaken via the Equid Assessment Research and Scoping tool (EARS) by a trained assessor. Mules had to adapt swiftly to changes in industry type, enduring long distance transportation in overloaded vehicles and across country borders with no checks for biosecurity or welfare. Mules had to show swift adaptation to their new environment, to respond to and learn new tasks via inhumanely administered training, using inappropriate techniques, delivered by owners lacking in understanding of mule behaviour and learning. Environmental conditions were often hard; the negotiation of difficult terrain and challenging weather conditions during monsoon and subsequent high-altitude working without acclimatisation likely pushed mules to their biological limits. This study investigates the lives of a population of mules in the mountains of Nepal, developing a better understanding of their needs and their 'truth' or 'telos' informing what measures will help them to thrive.