Giuseppina, a young female donkey under a year old, has vanished from her enclosure in Bram in the Aude department of southern France.
The Tetris association, an animal welfare organisation operating in the area, launched an urgent appeal for witnesses after the young jenny disappeared on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, amid growing fears that she was stolen.
Her owner, Gregoire Albisetti, who is one of the three co-presidents of the Tetris donkey sanctuary, said every piece of information is precious as volunteers search for the missing animal.
The disappearance took place in the Buzerens district near Lake Cap de Porc, on the rural outskirts of Bram, where Giuseppina had been kept in a secure paddock alongside her mother and several other donkeys.
Sanctuary workers discovered that the young donkey was gone, leaving herd members behind, and said they could not understand how she could have escaped on her own unless someone had taken her.
Public appeal launched across the Aude
Distressed members of the association issued a public plea for assistance, asking anyone who has seen Giuseppina or who has any relevant information to contact Albisetti directly by calling 06 19 70 17 37.
The charity instructed members of the public who might encounter the donkey not to chase or pursue her, warning that pursuit could frighten the young animal and cause her to bolt.
Instead, volunteers asked spotters to immediately notify the organisation with the exact location of the sighting, while urging local residents to share the appeal as widely as possible across social networks and community groups.
Giuseppina is less than twelve months old and is known for her remarkably gentle and confiding temperament, showing little fear of humans.
Her trusting nature made her an immediate favourite among caretakers at the sanctuary, where donkeys are regarded by Albisetti and his colleagues as full members of their family rather than simple farm livestock.
Donkey welfare and grazing in Bram
Bram is a historic circular commune in the Aude department within the Occitanie region of south-western France, located in the Lauragais plain between Carcassonne and Castelnaudary. The surrounding landscape consists of mixed farmland, woodlands, and waterways that have long supported agricultural grazing.
Donkey sanctuaries, known in France as asineries, focus on equine welfare, conservation, and rescue, often providing therapeutic contact for visitors alongside environmental management work. In rural communities, donkeys are valued for their calm disposition and their ability to thrive in social family groups.
Young donkeys typically maintain close bonds with their mothers throughout their first year of development, seldom straying from maternal protection or leaving their herd companions willingly. That strong herd instinct has reinforced suspicions among caretakers that Giuseppina did not simply wander off from the Buzerens pasture.
In addition to sanctuary care, donkeys in the region are frequently employed in eco-pasturing, a sustainable land management practice where grazing animals naturally clear vegetation, brush, and invasive plants from public parks and rural fields without requiring machinery or chemical weedkillers.
Deadly dog attack on sanctuary animals
The sudden disappearance comes as a devastating blow to the Tetris association, which was already mourning the violent loss of two other donkeys in a separate incident.
A female donkey and her three-week-old foal died after being attacked by a pack of four roaming dogs belonging to a nearby resident. The mother and her young foal had been carrying out eco-pasturing work when the dogs struck.
That fatal encounter caused widespread shock within the charity, leaving volunteers struggling to recover from the loss of the mother and her baby before Giuseppina vanished from her field.
With search efforts continuing around Buzerens and Lake Cap de Porc, the association is urging anyone in the surrounding area to keep watch and to call 06 19 70 17 37 with any possible sightings.
