When Musa the donkey injured his leg while working at a rubbish dump, SPANA’s vets were on hand to give him urgent treatment.
Musa the donkey works in the Badalabougou rubbish dump – a sprawling site in Mali’s capital city, Bamako. The dump is a dangerous place for the seven-year-old donkey and his young owner, Adou, who earns a basic income as a refuse collector. Every morning, the pair must carefully make their way through mountains of rubbish which can contain shards of glass, scrap metal and other hazardous objects. Each journey they make puts Musa at high risk of injury and of contracting serious diseases such as tetanus.
One day, Musa was making his way into the dump when he received a deep cut on his left hind leg. On seeing the injury, Adou was worried. He knew that Musa’s wound had to be treated straight away to avoid infection. So, he immediately took his donkey to SPANA’s mobile clinic that was visiting the site that day.
At the mobile clinic, SPANA’s veterinary team examined Musa’s wound. They cleaned his injury carefully with clean water and diluted disinfectant. Luckily, Musa’s wound did not need stiches, so the vets placed a protective bandage to keep it clean and allow it to heal. Next, they administered an anti-inflammatory injection to relieve Musa of any pain and prevent any swelling. Due to Musa’s work environment within the rubbish dump and the high risk of infection, the vets placed him on a tailored course of antibiotics. Finally, they gave Musa a vaccination for tetanus to help the donkey build his immunity against the deadly disease.
The vets praised Adou for acting so quickly. They showed him how to check Musa’s bandage daily, and advised him to return to the clinic in three days’ time so that they could monitor Musa’s progress.
Adou said: ‘Thank you, SPANA. You help us with veterinary care and proper harnessing materials.’
Mobile clinics are essential to our ongoing work to transform the welfare of working animals worldwide. Without them, animals like Musa may never have access to professional veterinary care. Our mobile clinics travel thousands of miles a year to provide vital veterinary treatment to working animals in need of our help. As part of their work, our vets also train owners in good animal welfare, run community training sessions and train veterinary students so that they can learn to treat working animals.
