Cases like these can be so disheartening - so
close to our centre, in a village where we have carried out numerous training sessions and
close enough to our centre to get treatment at any time it is necessary.
Once at our centre the donkeys were treated to
relieve their pain and suffering; both the owner of the donkeys and the children who had
been using them were brought to the centre to watch the treatments being given. The
abscesses along the spine of one of them, now named Beyonce, were drained and the hind
quarters of the other, now known as J-Lo, were also drained. To everyone's surprise more
than 5 litres of pussy fluid was drained from her hind quarters - a sight which shocked us
all but which must have brought huge relief to the donkey herself.
The suffering these donkeys have endured is
unacceptable, and it is for this reason that we contacted the authorities to report the
case. We are fortunate to work in a country where animal welfare law does exist and in
this case we felt it was important to involve the authorities. The children of the owner
have been included into our Donkey Club programme to enable us to educate them in correct
donkey care and handling, to try to prevent this cruelty from passing down the
generations. Whilst it may seem difficult to understand how we can encourage the children
to come and have fun with us at our Donkey Club when we have seen the appalling state of
their own donkeys, in order to bring about a change in mentality it is essential that we
take the bold step to encourage the correct behaviour in a positive way. Ostracising them
from our programmes would only serve to increase the gap between them and us, and would
certainly not lead to their future donkeys being well treated. Without positive education
this mentality will not change, but we are lucky to be able to encourage the correct
behaviour whilst the children are still young and have their whole lives ahead of them.
The donkeys are both making a good and steady
recovery and the lights in their eyes are starting to return. The incredible thing about
donkeys is their often unending kindness; despite everything they have been through they
have been nothing but a dream to handle and treat and they are both truly lovely donkeys.
Whilst cases such as these are saddening, we have to use them to give us more strength to
carry on the educational work we are doing to prevent these situations in the future, and
to encourage the younger generation to grow up with empathy for their animals.
Home