It is now distributed through much of central and south-east France, with the highest concentration in Provence and the Rhône-Alpes region.

[6] For hundreds of years the Provence donkey was used by transhumant shepherds of the area as a pack animal in the seasonal movement of flocks of sheep between their summer pastures on the high Alps of Haute-Provence and the Dauphiné and their winter grounds in Basse-Provence.

During the seasonal transhumance between the low ground where the sheep over-wintered and the high alpine pastures where they spent the summer months, donkeys were used as pack animals.

[7] Following the mechanisation of transport in the twentieth century, first by rail and then by road, the breed declined at an alarming rate.

At the end of the 19th century, a census in the départements of Provence recorded 13,000 head; in 1956 the number had fallen to around 2000, and by 1993 no more than 330 could be identified.