Tanzania partner groups looks back on last quarter

AAA partner group, Tanzania Humane Charity (TAHUCHA) have sent us their May update:

"TAHUCHA extends its sincere thanks and appreciation to Animal Aid Abroad for enabling it to work towards its main goal of improving working donkey’s welfare and conditions in the Geita region of northern west Tanzania.
Our long term basic goal focuses on fighting against all forms of cruelty towards working donkeys in the Bukombe District, and this message is reflected through empowering Tanzanian communities to own and economically benefit from their donkeys resource’s through sustainable production.
The income that working donkeys generate from a wide range of working industries is used to fund not only households but on a national level, the development of projects such as access to clean water, health care and education.
We reach these goals through the implementation of smaller chunks of work and focus on in a quarterly basis.
In this second quarter commenced April 2020, we have managed to treat, train, teach and transform knowledge and skills to the donkey owning community.
TAHUCHA is working from the ground providing interventions that give pain relief to working donkeys however, we consider the social inclusion in terms of education and training to answer the problems of little awareness amongst owners regarding humane handling of working donkeys in the region we work.
We note donkeys in a wide range of working industries that include households, markets, kilns, forest, mines and farms doing a work of tractors and vehicles.
Even though they perform and generate money for the economics of many poor families, they are not rewarded, treated and have no appropriate harnessing systems.
Working donkeys suffer a lot, including being underfed and forced to carry weights well beyond their capacity; they are beaten to make them run fast due to their owners time pressure.
In the month of May, 2020, through mobile vet clinics and static points we have managed to treat a total of 212 working donkeys with problems related to welfare in rural settings of Bukombe.
Various conditions included, harness related sores, followed by beating wounds and accidental wounds.
But on other side of things in clinical settings in descending order most problems encountered were, lameness due to tendon exhaustion, Heamatoma, eye infectious disease, Dental problems, equine trips, babesiosis, Fungal infection and rabies in dogs.
We managed to educate 26 young 10 to 16 year olds on the basics of animal welfare, considering the importance of resting animals, feeding and treatment. We insist to the children that animals also feel pain when injured and most importantly, the need for vaccination against rabies.
We managed to teach 40 donkey owners and 30 riders on humane handling of donkeys but also insist on the value of donkeys because the slaughtering of donkeys is ongoing in the Shinyanga abattoir and it seems that the donkey skin trade is on rise.
We speak to the community that alive donkeys are worth more than dead so, donkeys better alive.
Bukombe donkey sanctuary is currently housing 13 donkeys including the three rescued from Mara region, namely May Day, Franklin and Hyness out of 21 donkeys re-homed last month, eight donkeys were discharged.
Alongside that, the cart workshop and the double breast collar carts in use as a pilot project is promising and the new version technology answers the challenges of single donkey breast collar carts which had a limited cargo.
Locally produced honey is continuing to be a good alternative in place of antibiotics. It works better on a wide range of wounds. All donkeys treated with honey, had positive responses.
We are working on constructing a water bank, big water trough, facing paddocks, preparing a field for more pasture establishment, expanding cart workshop, and mobilizing a service based laboratory plus a beatification project to make our sanctuary an attractive and better place for animals and people.
Thanks to Animal Aid Abroad for being keen to help TAHUCHA regularly even at these hard moments."