Friendicoes Camel Rescue Centre - August 2023

One of the projects which is funded by our generous AAA donors is the Friendicoes Camel Rescue Centre. Following is their August 2023 report:

43 camels have found a safe home at the Frindicoes Sanctuary. However many of them have mild to severe dental fluorosis. A visit by the vet is planned in the next month. Regular checks are done by Gopal and accompanying field worker (a traditional raika)

There is plenty of fresh drinking water, and plenty of fodder available again thanks to Animal Aid Abroad’s generous supporters. Procurement of fodder in remote parts of Rajasthan is an ongoing problem.

Skin infections and dermatitis recur in some of the camels here. Mange is the chief culprit and armitraz solution is used to wet the camel with. Medicated bath and regular deworming is currently the treatment we are using.

Several camels are abandoned as the treatment for mange can be prolonged and it spreads rapidly in a group of camels. As such the owner will just get rid of the affected animal.

Gopal has several such camels brought off the highway, at risk for being hit and run, left by the owners to fend for themselves. Traditional camel owners are currently undergoing a huge financial crisis as the government has removed all assistance and aid. That is a shame as an entire tribe is suffering due to this neglect.

One of the camels rescued was unlucky and sustained extensive wounds and lacerations from sharp fencing wire. Most of the camels have scars or wounds from this as they attempt to forage. In the last decade all traditional uses of camels to sustain raika families has suffered such as camel hair weaving and milk sales.

Nicknamed Sheru, one little camel baby was rescued by Gopal after it was hit by a vehicle and the mother stolidly stood in the highway protecting him. The fracture sustained by Sheru has been splinted and he is a good patient accepting this strange thing on his leg stoically. Mother and baby prefer the safety of the shed and don’t go foraging as yet.

Another rescued camel, Raja has a huge lump on his side… which at the moment is not diagnosed. He is an elderly camel with several large scars on him and Gopal conjectures the harnessing and overwork pulling a loaded camel cart has caused this. However when the vet visit is made more will be known. Meanwhile Raja simply luxuriates in his freedom and enjoys his foraging and seems oblivious to the lump marring his good looks.

One woebegone camel was unable to scratch at the wound under his chin where an injury caused by barbed wire has caused a huge maggot wound that have entered his mouth too. However on closer examination it was a fractured mandible along with the maggots so he was probably hit either by a vehicle or by human hands. Gopal and the field worker apply himax after carefully removing the maggots. The nostrils and cheek is swollen and the camel has trouble eating.

Water tankers have to be purchased as natural water sources dry up except during the feeble monsoons.

Thank you everyone at Animal Aid Abroad for this opportunity to study an amazing species and get to know the camels of India better. We are also getting to understand the trials and tribulations of the traditional camel people the Raikas and understanding the need to help them protect their way of life which is under severe threat.