Save working animals from agonising dental disease

Adele’s story

Adele is a young adult donkey who works in the largest refugee camp in Bamako, Mali’s capital.

Adele spends her days transporting waste, bricks and water, helping her owner Boukary to make an income. It’s tiring and back-breaking work. To survive, she forages for food in waste around the refugee camp. This precarious existence was made tougher recently by the fact that Adele was also carrying a foal. 

A few months after arriving at the camp, Adele became listless and depressed and, despite being pregnant, was losing weight. She was unsteady on her feet and struggled to get through the day. Boukary was extremely worried. 

Toothache was the root cause of Adele’s suffering. Without regular grazing to wear them down, her teeth had become massively overgrown, making it difficult for her to chew properly. What little food she was able to forage fell out of her mouth, semi-chewed.

As well as unbearable hunger, Adele had terrible ulcers and sores in her mouth where her sharp, overgrown teeth were digging into the sides of her cheeks. She was in so much pain. As she grew weaker and hungrier, Adele and her unborn foal’s lives were at risk.

Fortunately, Boukary knew that SPANA’s mobile clinic vets regularly visit the refugee camp to treat working animals. So, he brought Adele to the clinic for urgent treatment.

Our dedicated team conducted an oral examination and saw straight away that Adele’s teeth were overgrown, meaning she couldn’t bite properly. Using a special dental filing tool called a rasp, the sharp points of her teeth were carefully filed down. She was also given anti-inflammatory medicine to soothe and treat her ulcers and sores.

Almost immediately, Adele’s quality of life improved. She could eat normally again, giving her the energy to support herself and her unborn foal.

Adele was free from pain, and over time, her ulcers healed. Boukary was so thankful to SPANA for treating Adele. Without her, he would have no means of survival.