BlindLove Quarterly update

AAA’s newest partner group, BlindLove is based in Bathurst on the Eastern Cape of South Africa and they focus on equines. Following is their update covering September 2022 - January 2023.

On the 6th September 2022 we received an SOS call from the local SPCA in nearby Port Alfred. 12 donkeys were sitting in the stock Pound in Alexandria. The SPCA feared that the donkeys were either destined to be fed to lions on surrounding game farms, or that they might catch the attention of criminals involved in the illegal donkey skin trade in China. We rushed through to check on them and after a headcount we noted 3 stallions ( one with a badly injured stifle/ broken hip), what looked like 5 pregnant mares and 4 younger donkeys/ yearlings perhaps?

The SPCA is in town and doesn’t have the space so it was decided the donkeys come to us. And so began a very long drawn out frustrating battle for us in the attempt to get the donkeys released into our care. Impounded animals by law in South Africa have to be ‘advertised’ in all local newspapers in the hope that the owners can be traced. A fee is then due by the owner and the animals normally released back. If no owner steps forward, the animals are then by law auctioned off. Some of these poor donkeys had spent almost an entire year in the Pound. And with the numbers steadily growing, pregnant mares and with very little grazing available the Poundmaster wanted rid of the donkeys, but the SPCA had given the Pound a strict warning against auctioning them off for fear of them falling into the wrong hands.

The Pound is bound by strict Municipal By-Laws and so now no one in the Municipal Offices seemed to know how to proceed without being in contravention of the laws…… We even attempted to urge them to set an ‘auction’ date and we would be there to ensure the donkeys came to us!! No one budged! We finally had to enlist the help of Eastern cape Agri who it seems had logged heads with the Municipality before! Their legal team then sat down with the municipality’s legal team and an agreement was reached. By this time 2 of the mares had already had their foals!

Finally on the 29th November 2022 we headed off in a convoy of vehicles and horse trailers to load them up and bring them all here safely! The day went well with all the donkeys and the 2 foals arriving safely. The stallion with the injured stifle however lay down in the box and upon arrival here was unable to stand up. It was decided that we leave him in the horse box and that he head down to our neighbour Helen who owns Windsong Equestrian, as it was her horse box! Helen gave a wonderful home to one of our previous donkey rescues in March 2022, so this seemed perfect! He was made comfortable, fed and spent the night in the box.

The next morning he was up and managed to walk off the horse box. Helen had already named him Tena for tenacious! The vet came the next day and did an examination of Tena. While the vet was unable to properly diagnose the stiffle/ hip injury what we did find was horribly infected testes from ticks. The poor boy was treated promptly. It was decided to wait until his castration when he would be properly sedated to manipulate his hip.

Meanwhile the rest of the herd settled in beautifully and enjoyed the grazing, sunbathing and have lovely rolls in the sand! They slowly entered into a routine of coming up for a morning and evening feed and realising humans can be friendly! Tena recovered well and is still staying with Helen! Him and the other 2 stallions were gelded on the 13th December by Dr Amy from the Makana Veterinary Clinic in Grahamstown, with the assistance of Dr Robyn, the young CCS ( Compulsory Community Service) vet from the SPCA. All went well and the 3 boys recovered fast.

Our wonderful groom Michael Mkhlaba headed home on the 14th for his annual leave to spend time with his family in Harrismith 800km away!

On the 18th December, early that Sunday morning one of the Pound mares gave birth to THE smallest pitch black little filly. I realised immediately how tiny it was and that we might be heading for trouble. After a couple of hours it was clear the baby was struggling to latch on so I had enlist the help of a good friend, her husband and another groom called Oogies. We brought mom in and milked her. By that evening we had managed to get 500 ml in to the foal.

It was decided to remove the little one and supplement feed through the night and return the foal to mom in the morning, as it was very clear the mare was in no way rejecting her. This seemed to go well and we repeated the process the next day.

By Tuesday however we were concerned the little filly seemed a bit weaker than before and not so eager to drink. We raced her through to the Grahamstown Veterinery Hospital. We knew there she would have the best chance. Sadly however she didn’t make it and slipped away that night. The vet says she was just way too premature. We named her Middie short for Midnight. Her mom didn’t have much milk and she dried up quickly.

On the 23rd December we had another foal born! This time a big, strong, healthy filly!! She was so big and robust I didn’t notice her at first milling around with the herd! She was almost as big as the foals born in the Pound! Very friendly, coming over and greeting me and getting a rub each mealtime! We’ve named her Missy, short for Mistletoe!

On the 28th December the little black mare I’ve named Jet gave birth. This time it was a tiny TINY colt. At first he seemed quite strong, trying desperately to latch on, even moving around in the herd meeting the others! But as the hours ticked by I realised one again we would have to intervene. Mom was brought in and we milked her and he was fed. But not long after this he went downhill very quickly, soon slipping into unconsciousness and passing away in the early evening. The little black mare Jet was devastated, and sitting watching her moving off, calling first the one stallion back (I’m assuming dad?), then moving off again and calling, slowly one by one the entire herd returned to pay their respects to the little one, moved me profoundly.

Both these tiny prem foals weighed just 13 kgs. Spending time with and getting to know the herd, I think we might have one or perhaps 2 more mares that might be pregnant, but due to foal much later on this year!

Michael returned from his leave on the 9th Jan 2023 and he is starting his farrier course. Over the next while he will trim the donkeys hooves. We are desperately trying to fundraise for extra feed for this herd over the next couple of months.

We might have found potential homes for a couple of the mares with foals, but its still early days and I want to make sure all are 100% in perfect health, as are the homes before sending them off. Our biggest challenge right now is putting weight on the mares, securing funds for feed for them and gradually getting them ready for their hooves to be trimmed by Michael.