Animal Nepal Dukuchhap Sanctuary - November 2022

AAA partner group Animal Nepal have sent us an update on their Dukuchhap Animal Sanctuary:

November has been a sad month at the sanctuary. In the past few weeks, we lost three of our animals – our miniature donkey brothers Lava and Kush and our horse Novy. Kush was suffering from Plasmodium which is a blood protozoa disease and he had been under treatment for a few weeks, however he didn’t make it. His brother Lava did not have any health issues and all of his blood profiles had come back clear but last week suddenly he had an episode of Colic for which our Vets treated him and he made a recovery. Unfortunately, he experienced another episode of Colic in the middle of the night and our Vets were not able to make it on time to save him. Novy, one of our older horses had tested positive for Anaplasmosis which is also a blood protozoa disease and he died after few days of treatment. He had been responsive in the beginning but few days after starting treatment, he stopped getting up and he passed away two days after that.

Following this huge loss, our Vets have taken the decision to seal off our sanctuary and we are stopping any new admissions for at least six months. They are also conducting blood protozoa tracing to determine the source of the disease. We have also carried out another round of blood profile testing for all our shelter animals and are awaiting those results. We have also tested their feed and water sources but did not detect any abnormalities. We know that donkeys are particularly sensitive animal, both physically and mentally, so we are now taking all possible measures to ensure that our remaining animals are in good health. Our Vets have also had zoom calls with The Donkey Sanctuary UK Vets for their advice and we have shared all of our test results with them and are awaiting their feedback.

We would like to thank AAA sponsors for helping us take care of our Lava, Kush and Novy in giving them a safe life of dignity without any fear and suffering. All three were with us for almost 10 years and in those 10 years, with your help, we were able to give them a life they deserved. While it is always a shock to lose any of our animals, we are also conscious of the fact that their advancing years and difficult start to life may be contributing factors to their weakened health.

We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Animal Aid Abroad for their continued financial support in the running and maintenance of the sanctuary for our rescued equines in Dukuchhap.

AAA would like to say thank you to Animal Nepal for providing years of comfort and safety for these animals and while we share the loss with you, we are so glad they were able to be cared for so well by your team and we appreciate the efforts being made to protect all of the animals at the sanctuary.