Donkey instead of the ass; at the end, Zhirinovsky beat Proshka with a whip, made the ass move and had a ride on him through the snow-covered backyard of his dacha. International organisations People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and World Animal Protection have accused Zhirinovsky of cruelty to animals. Zhirinovsky replied to the assertions by stating that similar treatment is commonplace in the Arab world and claimed that his ass has been treated "better than many people". Donkey The donkey or ass ("Equus africanus asinus") is a domesticated member of the horse family, Equidae. The wild ancestor of
Equus conversidens Equus conversidens Equus conversidens (Owen 1869), or the Mexican horse, is a dubious Pleistocene species of horse, now extinct, that inhabited North America. The holotype of "Equus conversidens", a partial palate, was unearthed in Pleistocene deposits northeast of Mexico City, Mexico. In January 1963, a partial skeleton was found in the city of Canyon, Texas in a white clay bed during the excavation of a basement, and was referred to "E. conversidens" by Dalquest and Hughes (1965), who interpreted the species as medium to small-sized, and added additional records of the species from Texas (including a skeleton from Slaton), Arizona,