Zambezi Working Donkey Project - April 2023 Report

Animal Aid Abroad support the work of the Zambezi Working Donkey Project and during April 2023, thanks to this support, the team treated 149 donkeys through mobile clinics, in addition to our 16 permanent residents at Maramba Farm. 149 donkeys were dipped, 116 dewormed and 56 donkeys were treated for wounds.

Unfortunately we haven’t handed out any new harnesses last month as we were waiting on conveyor belts (a specific part of the humane harnesses) that had to come all the way from the Northern province. They have arrived now and the team is busy working on new sets of harnesses at the moment.

Our project Supervisor Emmanuel had 2 emergency call outs this month. The first call was from a man in a village called Maloni, his donkey was limping after it had fallen into a pit. Emmanuel cleaned the wound, wrapped it up and gave the donkey some pain medication. During the follow up visit, Emmanuel was lucky to see that the donkey had improved a lot and he should 100% healthy again in a few days.

The second call was from a family in Natebe, upon arrival Emmanuel discovered there wasn’t a “real emergency” but the family had recently bought 4 donkeys and wanted to know how to take care of them. 2 of the donkeys are pregnant so they asked if they could be used for work which Emmanuel explained they shouldn’t. All donkeys were dipped and dewormed and all questions from the family were answered. We love that this family contacted us to ask for tips instead of figuring things out themselves.

In April, we rescued two donkeys from Mutonga Village, when Emmanuel was on his way to work he saw two donkeys pulling a heavy cart and he went over to speak to them. One of the donkeys had wounds all over him and was in a very bad condition. The owner was told to come to Maramba Farm where he left the donkeys in our care. One of the donkeys had minor wounds and they healed fast so he was picked up last week. The one with the major wounds is still in our care and will only be able to leave when he is fully recovered.

It is thanks to the supporters of AAA that we were able to help these donkeys and we will continue fighting their cause wherever we can!