Another life saved by MARES

IN addition to the story of Merlin, Ariel was also rescued and nursed back to health by the team at AMRES, with the help of AAA donors. Following is Ariel’s story:

We had had exceptionally huge thunder storms and it was just before a huge storm broke that we were called out to collect an injured donkey.

We arrived at the nearby township to see not one, but 2 female donkeys.  The first one had already died from the severe axe wounds she had sustained.  We walked over to the other female donkey standing on a huge rubbish dump trying to find some food.  We were horrified when we saw her axe wounds.  She had been axed through the pelvic bone, shards of bone evident protruding through a gaping hole.  Her back right leg had also been axed from the rump all the way down to her joint. Her eyes were glazed and she was extremely weak from the amount of blood she had lost. 

Without wasting any more time, we didn’t even go and report her to the police, which we are meant, by law, to do.  Instead we headed straight back to the sanctuary.  The pain meds we had administered before moving her had kicked in and she had started to eat the mash we offered her.   Next, we knocked her out completely and started cleaning out the wounds.  It took 72 stitches to close her leg wound up.  Cleaning the pelvic area proved to be a lot more difficult as we had to ensure there were no pieces of broken bone left in the cavity.  This wound we also stitched up and waited for her to recover from the anaesthetic.   As soon as she had her balance she started to eat the grass and we just prayed that infection wouldn’t get into the bone.  We decided to call her Ariel, Hebrew, for Angel of God.

 We monitored her very closely but on the third day the stitches popped from the pelvic area and a huge amount of pus was seeping out.  It was not possible to stich again whilst there was so much infection.  On the advice of our Trustee and accomplished equine vet, Dr. Reid Rowland, we soaked a long piece of gauze in antiseptic and put it into the deep wound and taped it to the side of her body.  Twice a day it would absorb all the pus and infection and we would start all over again.  This went on for 6 weeks but each day from the inside, the wound was closing up.   By now we realised that Ariel was pregnant and then we had the worry, “Would being under anaesthetic for long affect her foal?  Would she abort?” We didn’t know the answers and knew we would just have to wait and see.  And so we waited patiently until at long last, on 8th December, almost 11 months (donkeys’ gestation is 12-17 months) Ariel gave birth to a tiny, beautiful and healthy foal.  We named her Baby Bellina.  Despite the awful cruelty bestowed on Ariel, she was and still is, the most incredible mother and Baby Bellina is now a big healthy, loveable donkey.