The breed was recognised by the Ministère de l'Agriculture, the French ministry of agriculture, in 2002.

[3] In the 1970s the number had fallen to about 500, and when the Association de l'Ane Bourbonnais was formed in 1994, it identified barely 50.

The breed was officially recognised by the agriculture ministry and the Haras Nationaux in October 2002.

[4] Like the larger Grand Noir du Berry from slightly further north, the Bourbonnais donkey was used as a pack animal to carry vegetables, coal, milk and the like, and also as a draught animal both for agricultural work and to haul barges on the canals of the region.

[7] In the early twentieth century it was also used to pull gigs to transport visitors to the fashionable spa at Vichy.