Matabeleland Animal Rescue & Equine Sanctuary (MARES) April 2023 Report
AAA carefully selects the global partner groups we support and one of those groups is the Matabeleland Animal Rescue & Equine Sanctuary (MARES), who have sent us their April 2023 Report.
“Our rainy season came to a very abrupt end on 5 February 2023. This will impact negatively on the pastures and for feeding through the next 9 dry months until the rains come again in November. We feel more, now than ever, that an alternative method of feeding fodder in the winter, especially for pregnant, thin and old donkeys, must be made and our moringa tree fodder and bana grass is the answer. In the meantime we are in need of 10 000 bales to feed our over 115 equines at MARES through these months.
In April we cleared an area at the MARES Sanctuary and prepared and planted 80 moringa trees. Normally our rains finish in mid May so the growth will be slower without the natural rains but with watering it will continue to grow through the winter months as does the bana grass. All the little saplings have taken and we will send updates on their progress. This will be exactly the same as Mabale station.
Also in April we sent 12 of our rehabilitated resident donkeys to a Rhino Conservancy near Beitbridge, some 263kms from Bulawayo. For many years in Arizona donkeys have been put with the herds of goats and sheep to protect them against the coyotes. This is due to their incredible sense of hearing and being able to communicate with other donkeys through braying up to 6kms away. It was decided to put these donkeys with a herd of rhino and their 3 young babies to help protect them from poachers, leopard and lion. Two of the donkeys sent down are totally blind which enhances their sense of hearing. They have settled very well with the rhino and we shall be doing a follow up in 2 months’ time on their progress. Please note that there are game rangers with the rhino and donkeys 24 hours a day.
A 2 month old foal was rushed to MARES at the beginning of April that had sustained injuries from being hit by a motor vehicle. She had gone into shock and her temp was only 31 deg. It took us an hour with shock blankets (courtesy of Tim Scarrott) to get her temperature up before we could work on her. After x raying the fractured leg it was decided to humanely euthanize the foal as the fracture was too severe to pin or plate.
We also received a 2 month old zebra with a severely broken back leg. With our x ray machine we could ascertain the extent of the fracture and the fact that this fracture had happened at least 2-3 weeks prior to its arrival at MARES. We were able to knock the donkey out and manipulate the joint and bandage up. As it is a wild animal it falls under National Parks. They decided to take the zebra to another vet where they amputated the leg. Sadly, there was nothing we could do to intervene.
April was a busy month with the births of 3 donkey foals, Clore, Star and Angel. These foals would not have been born if we had not rescued their mothers who were uplifted for injuries and abandonment in the past year.
Sadly, MARES uplifted 5 severely injured donkeys in Bulawayo. Three of the donkeys were abandoned, literally unhitched and tossed on the side of the road, as they had been driven up and down tarmac roads until the soles of their hooves had worn through to the laminae. Two of the donkeys have all 4 hooves worn through whilst the third one has just the front hoof worn through. The third donkey also has an upper respiratory infection, extremely thin with a body score of 2 and has clouding in both eyes. They are under our care at the sanctuary where we soak their hooves in Epsom Salts, pad them with cotton wool and bandages, apply a thick polystyrene base and then duct tape underneath which allows them to be able to walk around. This is done every day. We have rehabilitated a few in the past and they did make a very slow recovery.
The fourth donkey was uplifted in a very severe state, extremely thin as he has a broken pelvis and was unable to move to graze. He is recovering at MARES. A broken pelvis can’t be fixed but with care and management it will fuse and the donkey will be able to walk with a limp but will have no pain.
The fifth donkey uplifted was extremely thin, anaemic from the number of ticks on him and very lame on his front right limb. Two days after collecting him an abscess burst through his front right coronet. We have found out through investigation that 3 of these donkeys belong to an owner who MARES has prosecuted twice before for cruelty and abandonment. We have opened another Criminal Case against him and he will be sentenced on 16 June 2023.
The owner, unknowing that we had reported his 2 donkeys to the police for abandonment, filed a law suit against MARES for stealing his two donkeys. He has been arrested and his court case will be on 6 June 2023.
Prosecuting donkey owners is a long, time consuming exercise, often going to court three or 4 times before a hearing. However, we are determined to get a ruling in the hopes that it will set a precedence to other donkey owners that are cruel to their donkeys that there is a law that protects the rights of donkeys and if you break the law you will be punished.
At the moment MARES has 83 donkeys at the sanctuary. In the next 2 months 16 donkeys will be going to their forever homes as follows:-
4 to the Sandra Jones Home for abused children where they will be used to assist in therapy with the children and child psychologist.
4 to Peta Anne Davies Community Outreach Project in Dete where they will be used with the volunteers to take grass and water out to the horses paddocks each day as well as using them to educate the 4 villages around their area.
4 to Matetsi Anti poaching Unit (2 with fractured legs will be pets to the managers children) the other 2 used to patrol the fencing against poachers
4 to a forever home in Bulawayo, 2 of these donkeys are blind and the other 2 have had fractured fore limbs.“
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