Choose country or region to see content specific to your location.
Moum the donkey gets a SPANA check-up
Find out how SPANA vets in Mali helped a 12-year-old donkey with overgrown hooves and teeth.
Moum the donkey has a very important job transporting firewood for her owner, Abou. They journey to a forest near their village of Sikoro, in southern Mali, three to four times a week so that Abou can gather firewood to sell and for his family to use at home.
Abou takes great care of his 12-year-old donkey and her foal, Nantenin. He took them both to a SPANA mobile veterinary clinic when it visited Sikoro, because he was concerned that Moum’s teeth and hooves were starting to become overgrown.
At the mobile clinic, which had set up in the centre of Sikoro, SPANA’s veterinary team examined Moum carefully. They praised Abou for looking after his donkey so well and for noticing that her hooves and teeth were in need of treatment.
Donkeys in rural Mali often suffer from overgrown hooves after the rainy season has ended because they have been walking on soft ground. The vets clipped Moum’s hooves with specialist farriery tools to ensure that they were all even again. They also carefully filed down her teeth so that she would not be troubled by any sharp points.
Next, the vets examined Nantenin, and gave the young foal a clean bill of health.
Abou thanked the SPANA vets for all their help. He said: ‘I have known SPANA since I was young, as they have been coming to this village for 10 years. I was born in a family with working animals. Thank you for always helping our animals.’
Your compassion and care for working animals is helping SPANA vets across the world reach working animals in rural areas – like Moum and Nantenin – who, without SPANA, would have no access to professional veterinary care. Our vets travels thousands of miles every year to improve the welfare of working animals. Thank you for all your help.
