Friendicoes July 2023 Report
Without the generous donations from our supporters, AAA would not be able to partner with groups like Friendicoes, who have sent us their July report for their Equine Program:
During July, Friendicoes held a two week Kedarnath equine treatment camp. The Mobile equine team along with the two field paravets (sponsored by AAA) from Agra and Jewar were deployed at Kedarnath for treatment of sick and injured equines. It also involved many awareness and education sessions to teach equine owners about Common Equine problems and solutions.
The main health issues encountered included:
Saddle sores and wounds over 300
Lacerated wounds on brisket and flank over 115
Foot punctures over 22
Indigestion- Worm load over 450
Other wounds and abcesses over 90
Eye injury over 41
Skin problems over 31
Respiratory infection and fever over 80
Lameness and fractures set badly 11
Colic 42
Ear tag wounds 12
One of the major issues in this area is that there are no facilities to rest an animal or let it recover for a few days before being put to work again. The animals were caught by us either moving up or down and summarily treated on the road itself to ensure it got some relief.
Hoof injuries are frequent but the owners are often ignorant of the implications of this problem for their working animals.
Indigestion/ Wormload: on average 30 to 35 such cases were treated each day. Owners were educated about simple home remedies and the value of regular deworming practises.
Considering the huge quantities of building materials being sent up and down the mountainside, purely using mules and ponies, the sharp metals and other materials inflicted a lot of injuries on all the animals.
Eye injuries seemed very frequent. Once again due to poor loading of materials and inability of owners to regulate weight on the poor animals backs, the animals lost footing and suffered injuries.
Abscesses on neck and flank was very common because of unnaturally heavy oddly shaped loads wooden planks and metal girders they had to carry up the mountainside.
This program was much-needed and we thank our donors for helping to support activities like this that make such a difference to these suffering working animals.
