Working Towards a Zambia Where Donkeys are Free from Suffering

With your wonderful support, the Zambezi Working Donkey Project (ZWDP) are continuing in their mission to work towards a Zambia where donkeys are free from suffering, treated with compassion and valued by the people who rely on them. With help from your generous donations, they predict they can make great strides towards achieving this vision in the second half of 2025.  

During July, the team attended to no less than three emergency call outs and also conducted several mobile clinics in various villages, where they treated an incredible 240 working donkeys. Additionally, they replaced 11 inhumane oxen yokes with humane harnesses.

Emergency Call Outs

July began abruptly with an emergency call. A friend of ZWDP was travelling south when she saw a donkey hit by a car. The team rushed to the site of the accident where they found the donkey alive but injured. A clinical exam suggested part of the spine closest to the donkey’s hind legs had been injured, which left her back legs paralysed.

The donkey immediately received pain medication while the owner was located. The owner requested euthanasia and ZWDP’s veterinarian granted this request to relieve the donkey of any further suffering.

ZWDP then received another emergency call, not far from Maramba Farm, about a foal called Miracle who had been injured by an elephant. The team rushed to attend to poor Miracle and discovered her left rear leg was completely broken.

Following veterinary consultations with Worldwide Veterinary Services, ZWDP were informed the injury would require complicated bone surgery. Unfortunately, they currently lack the facilities to undertake complex surgery so, to relieve little Miracle of further suffering, the owners agreed to euthanise her.

Miracle

In yet another emergency call out, the team rescued a donkey who had been hit by a car on a highway. This donkey had been badly injured over three weeks ago, and her wounds were infected and covered in maggots. Thankfully, a kind stranger near the accident scene provided her with water.

A clinical examination revealed she had sustained a broken and detached pelvic bone; however, there was no indication of broken bones in her leg and she was able to bear weight following the accident.

The team brought the donkey back to Maramba Farm, where she has been receiving anti-inflammatories, antibiotics and wound treatments. After consecutive treatments with antibiotics and pain killers, she stabilised enough so the team could perform a minor operation to excise the detached bone piece. This will prevent further tissue damage or infection.

The operation was a success and this donkey now has a second chance at life! Her wounds have started to heal and she is improving daily. The owner has still not been identified, but the donkey remains under the care of ZWDP and she has been named Lucky.

Lucky arrives at the sanctuary

Lucky is slowly recovering from her ordeal

Mobile Clinics

The first mobile clinic for July was held in a village called Kasiya, where the team treated 16 donkeys for ticks and fleas, and 13 donkeys for worms.

A donkey called Marie attended the clinic in Kasiya. She is lame due to losing her entire front left hoof a year ago, but it is amazing to see how she has healed and that she is now thriving. Her owner retired her after the injury and informed the team Marie is expecting a foal.

After a successful negotiation, Marie was rescued and brought back to ZWDP’s sanctuary, Maramba Farm. She is comfortable in her paddock and the team are hopeful she will have a stress-free delivery in her new home.

Marie

Two mobile clinics were held in Libuyu last month, where the team educated 15 donkey owners on good animal welfare practices. A first-time offender was warned about the dangers of overloading his scotch cart and how this endangers the welfare of his working animals. The offender complied and offloaded excess bags of charcoal to relieve the donkeys of this extra weight.

Another first-time offender was educated about the cruelty of using an ox yoke on his donkeys and he agreed to use a set of humane harnesses instead.

Despite these offenders, the majority of donkey owners at Libuyu were compliant and only needed minimal education about animal welfare.

However, the team were disappointed by one donkey owner whose animals had several untreated injuries from being bitten. ZWDP will follow up this owner and his donkeys during next month’s field checks.

Twapenga - a donkey rescued last month - was returned to her legal owner after being worked too young by the owner’s son in law. Both the owner and son in law received a stern warning against working animals too young and the owner will be held responsible if any of his animals is abused in future - either by himself or by a second party working his donkeys.

Twapenga

ZWDP were recently privileged enough to be represented at the Africa Animal Welfare Conference. Their program manager gave a presentation on holistic approaches to working animal welfare. The conference provided some great ideas on improving working animal welfare in Zambia, which ZWDP are keen to explore further. For example, in light of the recent tragic road accidents, providing reflective collars for donkeys living close to highways could help to prevent such accidents in future.

The 17 beautiful rescued donkeys at Maramba Farm are all well currently. They were dipped twice last month to protect them from diseases from biting insects and ticks, and are due for their third round of deworming soon.

It is only due to your compassionate donations that ZWDP can continue assisting and rescuing donkeys in desperate need, and work towards improving the overall welfare of donkeys in Zambia. Thank you so much for your kindness and heartfelt support.