Zambezi Working Donkey Project January 2024 Report

It is thanks to the supporters of AAA that Zambezi Working Donkey Project (ZWDP) were able to help the following donkeys and the team will continue fighting their cause wherever they can!

During January our team treated 98 donkeys through mobile clinics, in addition to our 12 permanent residents and 7 short term rescues at Maramba Farm. 94 donkeys were dipped and 36 dewormed and 3 donkeys were treated for wounds during field trips. We replaced 8 ox yokes with humane harnesses and fixed 2 existing harnesses during January.

Luckily the Anthrax outbreak has calmed down so we are able to conduct normal field trip and mobile clinics again. On Wednesday the 10th of January, the team conducted a full mobile clinic in a village called Katubya, which is approximately an hour’s drive from Livingstone. The people from this village have been requested for us to visit and we are happy we could finally make it. One of our trained CLOs (community livestock officer) from a neighbouring village helped us facilitate this mobile clinic. Although it’s a very small village, the attendance was great and we were able to dip and deworm several donkeys as well as replacing 4 ox yokes with humane harnesses. A few community members couldn’t make the clinic but the CLO will make sure to inform these donkey owners of our project and guide them to where they can collect a new set of harnesses.

Update on the 4 rescued donkeys from December:

Set, who was severely burned is slowly recovering, although her backwound is still relatively big, she is showing a great improvement in comparison with last month. Her and her little foal have even joined our current herd whilst grazing during the day.

Jealous’ wounds have healed nicely and is almost ready to be returned to its owner, the same counts for Chiloto. They will be going back to their respective owners in the next 2 weeks, ensuring we keep a close eye on them during our field trips.

Kamuseke who was badly overworked and malnourished is doing okay, his wounds are slowly healing but he is not ready to be returned yet. He will stay with us for a while to make sure he fully recovers.

During January, we have rescued another 2 donkeys named Maphalo and Black. Emmanuel came across both of them on the way home from a fieldtrip. Maphalo is badly abused and overworked, with wounds all over his body. Also, he has an issue with walking as his hooves are damaged. We are happy that he is in our care now and a police case against the abusers have been opened. Black has a bad ox yoke wound with has gotten infected so we just want to make sure it heals properly before returning to his owners.

**Update: since the above report was published, Maphalo has sadly passed away. Authorities are trying to find the owner, but have so far been unsuccessful. There have been another couple of badly injured donkeys, and Animal Aid Abroad have committed to funding the permanent rescue and care of a total of 7 neglected, abused and overworked donkeys. ZWDP team members negotiated with the owners to release the donkeys for a price into ZWDP’s care and these animals will now be permanently retired from working.

The team will closely monitor these owners for signs of abuse of any future donkeys they own, to ensure they do not get repeat offenders who may expect to have their abused donkey’s bought off them in the future. Thank you to AAA donors who are helping to fund the feed, treatment and housing of these rescued donkeys.