BlindLove Working Donkey Program, South Africa - September 2023

Animal Aid Abroad donors contribute toward working animal programs around the world, one of which is the BlindLove Working Donkey Program in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa. They have sent us an update on their activity for September 2023.

During the month of September our goals were to start handing out humane donkey harnesses and then we had our castration day planned for the weekend 30th Sept.

Unfortunately on the Wednesday before the planned castration day Dr Annie from the Grahamstown Veterinery Clinic had to postpone until the end October because the vets had all been off ill / recovering from being ill and were very short staffed at the time.

We decided to go ahead with an outreach on that day anyway ( 30 Sept), as we had let owners know it was happening and we had harnesses to hand out!

During September Malibongwe and Philippa headed out on the 16th, to meet with owners, treat any minor wounds, treat for ticks, clean out hooves and discuss the planned castration day and harnesses with the owners we met. Owner feedback is very important and everyone was extremely excited about the harnesses!

The day of Sept 30th was bitterly cold again, but we had a great day! We had volunteers helping from the Feral Cat Project. Rochelle Fourie who runs the project is also passionate about the donkeys! We had snacks donated for the owners from the local Spar Supermarket, and carrots for the donkeys.

We handed out 10 harnesses ( being the first donkey batch we have asked the owners to give us feedback) and are hoping to hand out another 20 harnesses in Oct. The harnesses are a full set, so include the front breastband as well as the back breeching strap. Initially we had thought we could just make them a half set or breastband, but Malibongwe and the owners all agree that a full set is needed. We were excited about the enthusiasm the harnesses generated from passersby! An ambulance drove past and the driver yelled out the window how ‘pretty’ we were making the donkeys look!

We took time to explain to the owners that the harnesses needed to be kept as clean as possible, with dried sweat and dirt being removed daily as it would lead to the straps becoming stiff and lead to injuries.

We handed out some humane smaller donkey snaffe bits. We showed the owners a small simply bridle we are hoping to start making during Oct too, using brightly coloured webbing straps.

We also handed out a couple of double sided hoof sanders from Finnegans Tools. The owners can uses these easy to make tools to file their donkeys hooves.

All minor wounds and injuries were cleaned and treated with wound spray. Hooves were cleaned out and owners were once again urged to clean and check their donkeys hooves daily. All the while the donkeys munched happily on their carrots. We also made contact with, and took the details of quite a few more donkey owners from different areas.

The owners expressed their gratitude and excitement, as they havent had any aid since F.A.C.E closed down in 2017. Malibongwe had said a couple of months ago that owners had expressed concern as to whether or not the same would happen, with them being ‘left in the lurch’ again. We assured them not, that we are here to stay!

Although its been a bit slow to get the ball rolling and win their trust, we think this project is really going to snowball and gain momentum, as owners on the day reckoned there are 100’s of donkeys and owners, needing harnesses and primary veterinery care.