Zambia Working Donkey Project (ZWDP) - May Update

During the past month we undertook 5 mobile outreaches which brought us together with 57 owners of 163 donkeys. Donkeys were checked for wounds and other ailments, as well as receiving tick treatment and vital education for their owners. We rescued 3 very sick donkeys. 'Leopard' has been permanently released into the care of ZWDP as he is blind, and two others, 'Bank' and 'Mimi' are in our temporary care while their wounds heal and they gain condition. We will be making a decision on whether they can be returned to their owners if we are satisfied that they have learnt to care for them properly. From our base at Maramba Farm we provided 25 new sets of harnesses and made modifications to the scotch carts, making them lighter and more balanced. In addition to our regular activities in the Livingstone area we have also started to expand our reach, providing harness-making training to people from Choma who reached out to us as they are concerned about the number of carts using ox-yokes and poorly treated donkeys in the surrounding farming areas. There is an increasing need for assistance as the use of donkeys spreads further across Zambia and we are in discussions with the Veterinary Association of Zambia and other organisations to replicate our training further afield. We will update more on this as plans take shape. Finally, we were delighted to hosted our colleague Richard Itaba from Tanzania Humane Charity (TAHUCHA) who travelled and extremely long way to learn how to make humane harnesses and share knowledge from our neighbouring country. We can't wait to see Richard and his team implement the harnesses in their area! As always, a huge thanks from the ZWDP team, and the donkeys who's lives we are able to improve a little.