Massa the donkey’s painful leg injury

Massa is one of the many hundreds of donkeys who work on the rubbish dumps of Mali’s capital city, Bamako. Every morning, the three-year-old donkey and his owner, Daouda, transport rubbish to the city’s mountainous rubbish dumps so that Daouda can earn a small income.  
 
Their work is extremely hazardous, and Massa is at constant risk of injury from the sharp objects, shards of glass, discarded plastic and other waste that he makes his way through every day. 
 
One morning, Daouda went to prepare Massa for their morning’s work but was horrified to discover that a cord had become caught around Massa’s right front leg during the night. Daouda did not recognise the cord and could only guess that it had come from the dump. Massa had struggled to free himself, but it had only become tighter, leaving friction burns and a red, bleeding wound on his leg. 
 
Daouda removed the cord from his donkey’s leg and took him straight to the rubbish dump site, as he knew that SPANA’s mobile clinic was due to visit there that morning.

Daouda thanked our vets for all their help. He said: ‘SPANA helps us with our donkeys by providing treatment. Thank you, SPANA.’ 
 
Your continued support is helping working animals like Massa who suffer injury or illness caused by hazardous working conditions. In the most extreme cases – especially when an animal has severe injuries or has accidentally eaten a foreign object, such as plastic – the emergency treatment our veterinary teams carry out is lifesaving.  Thank you for caring for working animals.