Thanks to our passionate donor community, Animal Aid Abroad continued to fund critical outreach clinics for working equines conducted by the dedicated ZWDP team. During September proved to be an extremely busy and meaningful month for the ZWDP team. This month, our team attended to 536 donkeys in total, providing 536 dippings and treating 307 for wounds. We received 5 drop-in visits at Maramba Farm, distributed 42 new harnesses, and replaced 6 existing ones. We responded to one emergency call-out in Natebe Village, where a donkey was observed to have swollen eyes, head, lips and tongue. The donkey was struggling to breath and was off feed. Two days of treatment had been marked with drastic improvement. Laboratory tests were conducted but showed no deviations from normal. At the time of reporting the donkey had improved and was grazing. We provided pain relief and antibiotics with a visit scheduled in the next few days.
Deworming
It finally happened! The ZWDP team made the trip to Mwandi District in Western Province, officially marking our expansion into a community with mobile clinic, humane harness provision and community engagement activities.
Since Mwandi is a new site for us, we thought it was important to pay a courtesy call on the traditional authority. We were honoured to meet His Royal Highness Senior Chief Anang'anga Imwiko, who looks after Mwandi, Mulobezi, and Sesheke districts. The meeting went really well, and he welcomed our work not just in Mwandi, but across his entire Chiefdom.
Meeting with Senior Chief
In his address, the Chief encouraged us to keep investing in education and awareness on animal welfare needs and the laws that protect animals. He also urged us to keep providing veterinary services, saying this will go a long way in improving the wellbeing of donkeys and, in turn, his subjects. He then asked the Senior Indunas (Royal court Chiefs and Headmen) present to arrange a meeting with all the area Chiefs to talk about developing by-laws to tackle animal abuse, neglect, and cruelty, which are still common problems in the Chiefdom.
Finally, His Royal Highness assured us of his full support as we roll out the project in Lutaba, Sankalongo and Mwandi Royal Village of Mwandi district. We ran 3 mobile clinics in these areas, which we couldn't have done without your support. We saw many animals that were presented for various ailments and general herd health treatment. A total of 349 Donkeys were attended to, belonging to 113 owners. Unfortunately, due to limited carrying capacity, we were only able to give out 24 harnesses in Mwandi district. However, this was far from adequate, leaving many of the farmers disappointed. ZWDP has made plans to return to Mwandi and try to see even more donkeys and farmers and distribute more humane harnesses.
Muchinga field check-up.
We ran three mobile clinics in these 3 areas. In Lutaba village, about 47 km from Mwandi central, we helped a family keep working with their donkey by treating his wound. Jackson is a 6-year-old jack weighing 180kg. He came to the clinic limping, with a deep cut on the inside of his left back leg, just below the hock. His owner told us he'd got into a fight with another jack five days earlier. Since then, he hadn't been able to walk properly, so he couldn't pull the cart. We gave Jackson a light sedation, along with pain relief and an antibiotic injection. We then numbed the area around the wound with a local anaesthetic, flushed it with saline, and cleaned it with diluted iodine. After that, we put antibacterial cream and wound spray on it. He went home with two sachets of pain relief for the owner to give over the next two days. Once he'd recovered from the sedation, Jackson was already walking much better than when he arrived. When we followed up two days later, the owner was really thankful. Jackson hadn't gone back to work yet, since we'd advised giving him some sick leave, but he was acting and walking almost as well as he did before the injury.
Wound treatment on hind leg.
We are glad to say Chileleko and Zebra have both healed! Chileleko is now a permanent resident at Maramba Farm and her wound is healing. She has joined our main herd and seems to have taken a liking to one of our oldest jenny residents, Nurse. Kindred spirits, one may say. Zebra healed very well and has been released back to his owner; follow-up phone calls indicate that he is doing well.
September brought us a rescue named Zesco. He is a 6-year-old Jack that was brought to the farm by his owner. A walk-in client had proud flesh wounds on his front leg just below the knee and some near the anal area. He was dipped and dewormed and placed on a course of painkillers and antibiotics to help him get better quicker.
Zebra, ZWDP latest rescue.
Livingstone is known as one of the hottest regions in the country. This, coupled with the hard work the donkeys do, is a recipe for poor condition in the donkeys found in the communities we serve. We have intensified our field Check-ups and follow-up visits to not only educate farmers on the basics of water, shade, rest and food but also on proper installation and use of harnesses. As the hot and dry season approaches, working donkeys face some of their toughest conditions of the year. Strangely, the last few days of the month have brought some rainfall, shifting away from the effects of the predicted “El Niño”. We are thankful for the rains and hopeful that they will continue to fall and encourage forage growth while keeping temperatures reasonably low. This situation allays ZWDP’s fear of increased donkey attacks.
The team has continued educating farmers on reducing workloads, providing adequate food and water, recognising signs of illness and allowing the donkeys appropriate rest during periods of extreme heat. The combination of high temperatures and increased pressure on household resources makes the welfare work of ZWDP particularly important, as supporting the health of the donkey directly supports the livelihoods of the farmers who depend on these animals.
Hoof treatment