TAWESO giving first-time care to donkeys in Tanzania

Tanzania Animal Welfare Society (TAWESO) recently carried out Veterinary Outreach Clinics to reach heavily worked donkeys around the Mtera Hydroelectric dam in the Southern parts of Tanzania.

The Donkey Welfare Outreach Clinics held in January were the first time that TAWESO had helped working donkeys at one of the shore villages of Mtera dam called Makatapola, located on the South-East of the dam.

It was difficult to contain the situation as more of the donkeys brought at the clinics were in horrible conditions and others exhausted but were still being worked.

As with other parts of the Mtera dam shore villages, the donkeys there pull very heavy carts made for Oxen and the goods include mainly fish and water but also building materials (bricks, sand, cement), firewood, charcoal and transport of people, especially to hospital during night hours. The villagers say the Mtera town and the surrounding small towns are built by donkeys.

The donkeys at Makatapola village are worked heavily throughout the day and have many horrible wounds because of the heavy loads and the use of yokes, but also wounds due to beatings by the operators. These operators want the donkeys to run while working and so beat them badly in order to make many trips, thus increasing their daily income.

The activities carried out during the clinics in Makatapola village included dressing of the wounds, dewormimg, treatment of disease, hoof care and also training the owners on working hours and changing the yoke system, as well as good handling/restraining of donkeys while being treated.

The other most common conditions included tick borne diseases, skin conditions, lamaness, opthalmic conditions and some tumours.

The Makatapola village Chairman Mr.Meneji Sungura thanked the TAWESO team and said “Our donkeys here have not received treatment at any one time in their life and this is the first time, we hear where you have helped in other remote villages and their donkeys are said to be in good health, we hope it will be the same here, thank you TAWESO”

TAWESO thanks AAA sponsors for supporting their work in reaching working donkeys with veterinary care in Tanzania.

Through this AAA support TAWESO helped 304 donkeys around the Mtera dam at Makatapola village and neighbouring villages along the dam shore.