Provide urgent treatment for seriously wounded working animals

Dineo’s encounter with a hippopotamus

Dineo was crossing the river with his owner, Moses, and another donkey, Thuso, to carry heavy goods to another village in rural Botswana.

Suddenly, they heard a noise from behind. A hippopotamus launched itself at Dineo and started to attack him. The hippopotamus’ sharp tusks dug deep into Dineo’s thin body as he fell down in the river.

Dineo went into a state of deep shock. Moses had to climb on the back of Thuso and use him to drag Dineo out of the river and away from the hippopotamus.

Dineo had multiple wounds on his chest, shoulder, thigh and groin. The hippopotamus had pierced the poor donkey’s body, leaving deep and painful open wounds, exposing red flesh. The hippopotamus’ tusks narrowly missed Dineo’s intestines.

Moses was very worried. He took off his jeans and made them into a bandage to protect Dineo’s wounds. But Dineo was in agony and needed urgent treatment before it was too late.

Luckily, Moses’ employer had heard of SPANA and called our vets. Our mobile clinic team quickly rushed out into the remote area where the poor donkey was waiting.

They cleaned and disinfected Dineo’s wounds, applying a special ointment to help them heal. They gave Dineo some pain relief and sprayed fly repellent around the wounds to stop maggots infesting them. This had to happen daily until the wounds healed. So, SPANA vets showed Moses how to care for Dineo’s wounds and apply the repellent to prevent infection.

Dineo was rescued in time and received the urgent treatment he needed to survive this awful attack.

Please donate today to help our committed teams be there for hardworking animals like Dineo who need urgent treatment for serious wounds.